Wires
by booksmart.devil
Summary: She wanted things to go back to the way they were when her life was easier and she was happy and free, but she knew that could never happen. Life had chosen its path, and Ashley was not included in it, not matter how much she had desperately wanted to be
1. Chapter 1

**Okay. So this is my first Spashley story. I'm not sure if it's any good. I'm not even sure where it's going exactly. I just felt like writing, and this is what came of it. I hope to have the next chapter up soon.**

**Oh yeah! Some reviews would be nice, you know, constructive criticism and whatnots. :)**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing, no Spashely, no South, no Kyla, no Jack's Mannequin, not even stupid Aiden. Just my crazy cool checkered glasses. So please don't sue. I'd probably cry.**

**-------**

It had been month's since Ashley had been able to string a simple sentence of words together. She had become a shell of the girl she once was. She had had it all, everything, but that was then, and this is now. Now she had nothing, nobody, just her and her music; which had been lacking lately, to say the least.

As she sat at her piano she began to bat aimlessly at her piano, listening to the traffic and the people walking by on that warm L.A. morning. A melody began playing itself; it had been one that she had been playing for 14 months now, one that refused to leave her mind no matter how hard she tried. She had spent minutes, hours, days, weeks, and months attempting to figure out the melody. What about it was so important? She had no clue, but she did know that she could not remove it from her head.

She had attempted to put words to the song, but nothing ever came. She couldn't speak, let alone write. Every time she did she could only think of one thing. And she could not let her mind wander to that. She had tried so hard to avoid that thing that she eventually blocked everything and everybody out. She had lost contact with nearly everybody. She had disappeared after hearing the news.

She had her routine down, it was the same every day, and it had been the same since she had moved into this one bedroom apartment by the boardwalk. Wake up, shower, sit at the piano, and play the same tune over and over again. The tune that would not leave, it was as if it was trying to tell her something. After successfully torturing herself with the tune, she would drink herself to oblivion and forget about the emptiness that was now her life.

It didn't really matter what it was trying to tell her, because she wasn't ready for its answer. She couldn't be ready for the answer to the melody. It would mean more than she wanted it to. It would bring up past hurts and future heartbreak.

So she did the only thing she knew how to: she sat at her piano that late Monday afternoon, playing the beautiful melody over and over again.

**7 months earlier**

'_Ashley, it's me, Kyla. Look, you haven't been answering my calls or responding to my e-mails. I wish you would just tell me that you were okay. I just…I miss you, I'm always here for you Ash, no matter what. I love you.'_

_It had been another pointless day for Ashley. She had been receiving these calls from her younger sister at least once a week since she had decided to leave her home and disappear. She had just wanted a place where she could be and not have to think about everything, a place where she could look around and not be reminded of how her life used to be. Maybe it was wrong to not tell anybody she was leaving. Maybe it was wrong to not tell anybody where she was or if she was even alive, but she couldn't take their sympathy anymore. She wanted nothing more than to erase the looks of pity out of those closest to her._

_She wanted things to go back to the way they were when her life was easier and she was happy and free, but she knew that could never happen. Life had chosen its path, and Ashley was not included in it, not matter how much she had desperately wanted to be included. It had been seven months since that fateful day, seven months to the day._

_She decided to lace up her shoes and take a short walk down to the beach._

_She had chosen her apartment for the simple fact that it was close enough to walk to the beach. This was the only place that Ashley had ever felt like home to her. A place that was her own, where she could listen to the wave's crash and watch the beautiful sunset and pretend for a moment that she was in the life she had always wanted._

_As she wandered down the street she pulled out a cigarette. She knew it was a nasty habit, especially for a singer, but she could care less at this point in time. It was her release and a rush all at the same time. She took a long pull off of the cigarette and exhaled slowly. Her fingers had begun to tingle and she couldn't help but smile. It was the only thing she could ever really feel anymore, and that was okay with her. It was the only feeling she welcomed into her mind and to her body._

_She found a spot down on the beach, it was late fall and night time so the beach was empty, the way she liked it; nobody to look at her with pity, nobody to ask her if she was okay. It was her getaway._

_She didn't know how long she had sat at the beach, but she was becoming restless. This feeling came every once in a while, this overwhelming sense to see what her life could have been. So she listened to her heart instead of her head and grabbed the next bus to the city._

_The bus pulled over at the stop and Ashley pensively walked down the stairs and onto the sidewalk. This is where her history had taken place; this is where she had so many memories. Her feet began moving on their own accord, and as her head screamed and begged her to stop; her heart was telling her to move forward._

_She had stopped outside of a two story house and stared inside the front window into the living room. It was nicely lit and from the outside she could see six figures sitting on the couches inside. Six figures, five people she used to know all too well, five figures of people she used to consider her loved ones, and one figure that she hated. She hated that sixth figure because that sixth figure had what she wanted, that sixth figure had her heart in her possession._

_The figures were circled around a coffee table in the front room just talking and laughing. Ashley's heart began to beat a little slower at the next sight. The sixth, unknown, figure leaned over and kissed her heart. She had kissed her heart as if nothing else mattered in the world. And in that moment Ashley was sure that her heart had stopped beating. It was that final straw that broke her._

_She was ripped out of her thoughts by the sound of a door opening, and as she looked up, she knew that she should have listened to her head instead of her heart. She should have been protecting herself._

_The figure walked closer to her and put a hand on her shoulder, 'Ashley? We've been looking all over for you! Where were you?!' Ashley couldn't tear her eyes from the scene in front of her, the two figures, and in that moment she realized she had lost it all. Nothing would ever be the same._

_The second she snapped out of it she realized that Kyla had been talking to her this whole time, starting a panic, and in that second she had noticed a second figure standing in the doorway. She knew who it was; she could feel _**her**_ eyes on her. She could smell_** her**_ scent. It was too much to take, she turned around and ran. She ran until she couldn't run anymore. She ran until her lungs burned and she felt like she was going to pass out._


	2. Chapter 2

**Okie dokie artichokie's. I have an update here. A littlel longer than the last, and I'm not sure how I feel about this one. Feels a bit forced to me.**

**Anyways, read it and let me know what you think. Or read it and don't let me know what you think. Whatever makes you happy.**

**Oh and I just wanted to say that I'm not sure how often I'll be updating, between school and work my free time is limited, but I'll try my hardest.**

**Anyways, here goes nothing.**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing, no Spashely, no South, no Kyla, no Jack's Mannequin, not even stupid Aiden. Just my crazy cool checkered glasses. So please don't sue. I'd probably cry.**

**-------**

A week had gone by since that day that she had walked to the beach. The day that she had let herself remember all of the hurt she currently stored inside of her.

A week of sitting around doing nothing, like usual, and a week of wondering if the heartache that she had worked so hard to get rid of, would go away.

It was as if that Monday, that fateful day, had woken up her heart. It had told her what she wanted; the only problem was that she wasn't ready for what it was trying to tell her. She wasn't ready to take action, action that very well would end with nothing of importance for her.

She sat on her couch staring at her phone; she knew what she needed to do. She knew she had been being selfish this last year by not having contact with anybody. So she picked up her phone and began to dial the familiar number, a number that she had tried to dial so many times and failed.

As she listened to the empty ringing her heart began to race. She was afraid of what was to come with this stunt. What she did know was that she needed to do this, not for herself, but for them.

'Ashley?..Hello? Ashley I know it's you, please just say something.' Kyla's voice rang through the other line.

'I-I. Um, hi? God this was a mistake.' Came Ashley's gravelly voice. It had been so long since she had uttered a single word, she wasn't sure if Kyla could even understand her.

'No, Ashley! Wait! It wasn't a mistake. It's so good to hear your voice. It's been too long.' She had sounded relieved.

'I'm sorry.' It was the only thing that Ashley could think to say at that point in time.

The conversation had proceeded and by the time that Ashley had hit the end button on her phone she had somehow been roped into meeting her younger sister for dinner. She hadn't been out in so long, she even went far enough as to have the local grocery store deliver her food for her so she wouldn't have to go out and have the chance of seeing a familiar face.

She was supposed to meet Kyla at seven at the small diner by her house. She had been to that diner on several occasions, usually at the early hours of the morning when she couldn't sleep. It had been a great place to go to think, and she knew she would not see anybody she had once known in there.

She had several hours until she had to get ready to meet Kyla. She hadn't seen her sister in 14 months, if you didn't count the short meeting outside of **her** house that warm night seven months ago. To say she was nervous was an understatement.

She and Kyla had a weird relationship. It had all started when the younger version of her showed up at her father's wake. She had claimed to be Raife Davies daughter too, and insisted that she had a right to be there. Ashley had taken it very hard, claiming that she never wanted to get to know this girl; she refused to even call her a sister. She was positive that Kyla was only there for the money.

However, as the months went by she had learned that Kyla had wanted nothing more than to meet her sister, to be around her, and be there for her. It had been a rocky couple of months until eventually the two became inseparable. Always there for each other, no matter what had happened. At high school they were known as the 'Davies Duo'.

The next couple of years Kyla and Ashley had overcome many obstacles, and in the end Kyla had ended up being the one person that Ashley could talk to about everything and the one person that constantly surprised Ashley.

Ashley tugged her skinny jeans on and laced up her Chuck Taylors and began to scurry around her apartment making sure that she had everything. It was a nervous habit of hers, one she hadn't practiced in a little over a year.

She stepped out onto the sidewalk and immediately lit up a cigarette, taking a deep drag and exhaling slowly. It was only going to take her about five minutes to get to the diner, and she was running a little early. She couldn't help it, she was nervous, and it made her restless. So she'd take her sweet time in getting to the diner, hoping not to seem too eager to see her sister.

She wouldn't admit it out loud, but she had missed Kyla, she had missed her almost as much as she missed her heart. It would be good to see her; at least she hoped it would be.

She had arrived at the diner with two minutes to spare, and yet as she peered into the small establishment, she saw the familiar brown hair and simple clothing. It made her stop and smile, just knowing that there was still somebody that cared enough about her to actually keep their promises.

She took a deep breath and pushed her way into the diner, slowly walking towards the table. Kyla's head snapped up from the table and an instant smile was spread across her face. Ashley was pretty sure that if she smiled any bigger than her face would be stuck that way permanently, but she couldn't stop the small, shy, smile that broke out onto her face at the sight of her only family member.

In a flurry of movement, she was caught into a deep hug. It was all that she had wanted for months, to be able to talk to her best friend, to be able to hug her, and apologize for the way she had been.

When the two pulled back they both had tears in their eyes. They giggled simultaneously and looked at each other.

Ashley had looked Kyla up and down and took in all that she had missed, until her eyes landed on one thing that could not be mistaken.

'You're, you, you're pregnant?' Ashley stuttered out.

'Yeah, I am. I wanted to tell you, but not over the phone. I wanted to tell you that you're going to be an auntie!' Kyla smiled nervously at Ashley. She had wanted to tell Ashley so many times, but she wanted to see the look on her older sisters face when she told her that she was going to have a niece or nephew.

A large smile overtook Ashley's face as she pulled her younger sister in for a hug.

'I'm so happy for you! I see Glen finally grew the balls to do something right.' Ashley smiled warmly at her sister.

'I guess you could say that.' Kyla laughed as they both sat down at their table.

A silence overtook the table as neither girl knew what to say. Well, actually, Kyla had a few things on her mind, but she didn't want to drive Ashley away, it had taken this long to get her to call and agree to meet somewhere. She didn't want to ruin it by pushing too much.

'So, how're you doing?' Kyla broke the silence that Ashley seemed all too comfortable to stay in.

'I've been okay.' Ashley answered simply.

'Oh, well that's good.'

The waitress came and broke the now awkward silence and took their orders. And after a few minutes she came back and placed their plates in front of them. Kyla smiled slightly at Ashley's plate.

'What?' Ashley asked as she took a bite of her veggie burger.

'Nothing, it's just that you still eat like an animal. The only difference is now you don't actually eat animals. How long has that been going on for?' Kyla asked curiously.

'Uh, about a year now. I just felt like it was time for a change.' Ashley stated shyly. She had gotten this question a lot, and if she was being completely honest, her reasoning for not eating animals had nothing to do with global warming or the poor animals, it simply was something she did for herself, a nice change.

'A lot has changed in a year.' Kyla stated as she picked at her salad.

'Yeah, and then some things haven't, like us.' Ashley smiled at her best friend.

'And we never will Ashley. I told you, I'm always here for you. No matter what happens.' Kyla locked eyes with Ashley, hoping that she had gotten the point through to her.

'I know Ky. Thank you.' Ashley ducked her head down.

Kyla just simply nodded and the two went on to eat their lunch and converse with each other. They only made small talk, basically catching up on things in each other's lives without delving into unwelcome topics.

As the two made their way from the diner to Kyla's car, Ashley grabbed Kyla's hand and stopped her.

'I'm sorry. I'm sorry for everything I put you through. It had nothing to do with you. I just needed to get away and you didn't deserve how I treated you and what I did.' Ashley said as she looked Kyla in the eyes. She needed the younger girl to believe everything that was coming from her mouth, because it was all true.

'I'm sorry too.' Kyla said. She truly was sorry for everything that had caused Ashley to leave, and sorry for the fact that it had been over a year since they had even had a real conversation.

The two hugged and Kyla got in her car and slowly drove away into the evening traffic of L.A.

Ashley walked slowly back to her apartment with a small smile on her face. Maybe this wasn't such a bad thing, maybe it was time for change, time to move on.

**Reviews? Pweeeease? :)**


	3. Chapter 3

**Hopefully this one isn't too confusing. lol. I pretty much think it's common sense, but you never know, I'm crazy and have an ADD mind.**

**Anyways, here's the third chapter. Enjoy. And review please. :)**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing, no Spashely, no South, no Kyla, no Athlete, not even stupid Aiden. Just my crazy cool checkered glasses. So please don't sue. I'd probably cry.**

**-------**

'Ashley come on. Come back inside. It's not that bad, I promise.' Kyla begged.

'I can't Ky. You know that. I can't go back in there and just pretend that nothing happened. That it's not killing me to see that.' Ashley mumbled.

'Ashley, when are you going to let it go? It's been almost two years now. You have got to move on with your life.' Kyla said.

'It's not that easy for me Kyla, and you know that. Look, I'll call you tomorrow.' Ashley said as she stepped towards Kyla giving her a kiss on the cheek and rubbing her stomach. 'You better be good to your mamma little girl!'

As she stepped from the front steps and into the night air, she inhaled deeply, fighting back the tears that threatened to spill.

**2 hours earlier**

'_Ashley, seriously, it's gonna be two hours of your life at the most. I've been looking forward to this forever. You can't miss you baby sisters baby shower.' Kyla complained and stuck out her bottom lip._

_It was that bottom lip that had always gotten Ashley to cave. That lip that had gotten Ashley to buy Kyla the puppy, the puppy that subsequently ate Ashley's pillow cases and peed all over her carpet. And it was that exact lip that had gotten Ashley to where she was now._

_Kyla's house, decorating for the baby shower. She had been planning it for Kyla for about a month now, and since the girl was so close to popping, she figured this was as good a time as any to get it over with. She had planned it out, all the invitations, the cake, the presents, the date, and time. However, while doing so she had effectively managed to block out the fact that there was going to be a hundred girls at this part. At least 30 that she knew, and at least 5 that she knew on a personal level. The ones she used to call her friends._

_At this very moment Ashley Davies had a dilemma. She could stay at the party and suffer through it, hoping that nobody would ask her a million questions and risk seeing the one person who still held her heart captive, or she could skip out on the festivities and risk upsetting her 8 ½ month pregnant sister._

_She knew that the first option would never happen. She'd be there and everybody would ask her questions. Where have you been? How have you been? Do you work? Do you have a girlfriend? Have you talked to _**her**_? Why'd you leave? Blah blah blah. Ashley didn't think she could take it, but she didn't want to risk sending Kyla into early delivery, so she had to suck it up._

'_Fine, fine. I'll stay, but only for an hour. That's it, no more.' Ashley said sternly to Kyla._

_A half an hour had passed and the guests had started to arrive at Kyla's house. Ashley had decided to hide out in the kitchen under the false pretense that she was arranging the appetizers on the trays and making sure that all the drinks were in order. Of course everything had been in order a half an hour before the party even started, but Kyla seemed to sense her need to get away from everybody._

_Ashley had exhausted all of her time in the kitchen and reluctantly made her way into the living room where the baby was currently taking place. There were so many women she didn't know where to start, so she decided to lean against the wall and just watch her younger sister interact with her friends. It had been so long since Ashley had seen these people, she was sure most of them hadn't even realized that she would be attending this party. She had been in hiding for almost a half of a year; she certainly didn't expect that people would even think about her at this point in time._

_The party was well on its way now, with several of the women more than a bit tipsy, and Kyla began opening her presents. She had just picked up a large wrapped gift and began to unwrap it, when she suddenly gasped and took in the gift._

_Underneath the wrapping paper was a large, beautifully framed black and white picture of her and Glen on the beach when they were just teenagers. Around the picture there were several others bordering it, some of Kyla and Ashley, some of Glen and Ashley, and some of Glen and his family. There were two sonograms on each side of the picture, one of Kyla and one of Glen._

_Kyla's eyes began to water as she searched around the room for her older sister. She had known as soon as she saw the frame that Ashley had done this, she was a softy deep down. She got out of her chair and walked to her sister and gave her a big hug. The two stood there in an embrace for what seemed like an eternity until they were interrupted by a door opening and closing and two voices laughing._

_The voices in question soon walked in on the scene and suddenly froze. Ashley and Kyla broke apart and turned around, only to be faced by the two people that Ashley had desperately wanted to avoid during this whole party._

_Her heart was now in the room with her, the only problem was that it wasn't in her chest; it was standing right in front of her, in the form of none other than Spencer Carlin, the blond haired, blue eyed beauty that had captured Ashley's heart at the young age of 16, and had yet to give it back. Unfortunately for Ashley, she no longer held Spencer's heart, and that was made perfectly clear by the presence of the young brunette at the side of her heart, holding her hand tightly._

'_Did we interrupt?' Spencer asked shyly, with a slight tint of red on her cheeks._

'_Oh no, no, it's okay. __I was just thanking Ashley for the gift she got me.' Kyla explained quickly._

_Throughout this whole conversation Ashley couldn't help but stare at their hands entwined with each others. It was the most interesting, and heartbreaking thing that she had seen in over seven months. She hadn't seen Spencer, or the girl, since that fateful night that she had mistakenly ended up outside the Carlin residence._

'…_yeah, it's really beautiful. She's the best big sister in the world.' Kyla finished off her speech. The one that Ashley had conveniently zoned out on. 'Right Ashley?' Kyla asked, nudging Ashley in the ribs with her elbow._

'_Oh yeah, right. What am I if not the best big sister in the world?' Ashley joked awkwardly._

_This felt like some alternate universe. The only reason she knew that it was real was the fact that she could feel her chest aching, as if it was breaking open slowly. _

_The three continued to stand awkwardly as all of the guests at the party watched on._

'_Right, well we should sit down, right?' Kyla said as she ushered the three other girls into the party, latching onto Ashley's arm and dragging her to sit on the couch right next to her. She leaned into Ashley and asked if she was okay, all Ashley could do was nod. The party had picked up after that, Kyla continued to open her gifts, and the crowd had continued to drink themselves into oblivion._

_It had been another agonizing thirty minutes and all Ashley could do was stare at Spencer. She hoped that she wasn't being so obvious, but she hadn't been this close to Spencer for close to two years, and it was killing her. She had to sit and watch as __**her**__ heart laughed and smiled with this other girl. She had to watch as __**her**__ Spencer kissed this other girl, and held hands with this other girl, and whispered secrets to this other girl._

_It was all too much for her, so she leaned into Kyla and mumbled something about going outside as she quietly excused herself from the party and onto the back patio. She had been staring at the cigarette in her hand for the past five minutes when she finally began to light it up and smoke it. She took a deep drag on it and sat thinking about what she was going to do. She couldn't keep doing this to herself; this is what she had been avoiding when she went into hiding._

_The party hadn't been that bad, until they showed up, and now it was just unbearable. She had to get out of there before she made a fool of herself. She finished off her cigarette just as Kyla stepped out onto the back patio and sat down next to her on the steps._

'_Ashley come on. Come back inside. It's not that bad, I promise.' Kyla begged._

**_Review? Pwetty pweeeease? With a cherry on top, unless your allergic, then pic something else. lol._**

**_thanks. :)_**


	4. Chapter 4

**La la la. I'm back. For some reason I heard that in a creepy voice when i thought it.**

**So i'm back, without the creepy voice. lol.**

**Uh..So yeah, here's the next chapter. Some might say it's a filler chapter. I don't believe it is.**

**All of the info in it is important. So here you go...**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing, no Spashely, no South, no Kyla, no Athlete, not even stupid Aiden. Just my crazy cool checkered glasses. So please don't sue. I'd probably cry.**

**-------**

It had been two weeks since Kyla's baby shower. Two weeks since she had gone home and cried herself to sleep.

Two weeks, 14 days. It didn't seem like that long to any outsider, but to Ashley it was long enough to just about kill her. Two weeks since she had stopped answering her phone, reverting to her old ways. Kyla had called every day, at least twice, to check up on Ashley, but she refused to answer the phone.

Two weeks ago her heart had been ripped out of her chest, again, and stomped on by a hypothetical elephant. She thought she had been strong enough to do this, to crawl out of her shell, to live her life again. She was wrong, boy was she wrong. She didn't think she had ever been more wrong about this than anything in her life.

She sat at her piano, lifeless, as always, hoping that today would be the day that the lyrics would spell from her mouth and onto the sheet in front of her, but as always it was something that she could only hope for.

The last two weeks had been in slow motion for her. Everything was a haze, she couldn't tell one day to the next, and was pretty sure she was out of food, but who was checking? Not her.

The doorbell rang and brought Ashley out of her stupor. She got up off of the piano bench and slowly dragged her feet over to the door, already knowing who was going to be there.

'Okay, I gave you your space, now it's time to come out of that shell and start communicating with the outside world.' Kyla said as she walked passed Ashley.

'Hello to you to.' Ashley said as she closed the door and moved to sit next to Kyla on the couch in her living room.

'You know, this place gets creepier every time I come here. The least you could do is get some furniture and decorate the place, brighten it up a little. Make it feel like home a little.' Kyla rambled.

'Now why would I wanna go and do that?' Ashley smirked at the younger girl.

'Oh jeez, I don't know.' Kyla laughed.

'So how's my favorite niece doing?' Ashley asked.

Ashley and Kyla's relationship had always been weird, but amazing. They both understood when the other needed space, and didn't take it personal. So it didn't surprise Ashley in the lease when Kyla didn't ask any questions, and instead went on with their conversation as if the past two weeks hadn't happened.

'Oh you know, kicking, restless, and ready to come out and meet the world.' Kyla complained.

'Sounds about right.' Ashley stated.

'So, did you wanna go get something to eat? I'm starving, and so is your niece. I swear she's made me gain at least 40 pounds, she's gonna be an eater, just like you.' Kyla giggled.

'Well, she has to get her amazingness from somebody, doesn't she?' Ashley laughed as she motioned for them to leave.

'Uh, excuse me; you are aware that I am her mother, meaning she would get all of her coolness from me.' Kyla feigned offense.

'Kyla, honey, you have no 'coolness' sorry to break it for you.' Ashley said using her fingers as air quotes when saying 'coolness'.

'Ouch Ash, hit me where it really hurts.'

By the time the two had stopped giggling, they had arrived at the dinner down the street from Ashley's house.

'And I'll have the curly fries, and the chocolate shake. Oooh! Throw some pickles in the shake will ya?' Kyla had been ordering for the past five minutes, and the waitress looked like she was about to pass out from all of the disgusting combinations Kyla was throwing at her.

'And for you?' The waitress asked, almost fearing Ashley's response.

'I'll just have a veggie burger and some fries. Oh and a coke, please.' Ashley asked politely as the waitress wrote down her simple order.

Kyla just stared at Ashley, smiling.

'What now?' Ashley asked, reading Kyla's mind before she even opened her mouth.

'So, she's pretty cute, ha?' Kyla suggested, wiggling her eyebrows in a creepy fashion.

'And completely straight, and I wasn't really paying attention. I was in awe of your need to order enough food for three countries.' Ashley rolled her eyes.

'I told you, she eats like you.' Kyla complained, rubbing her stomach.

'If she ate like me, she wouldn't eat things like chocolate pickle shakes.' Ashley stated, making a disgusted face.

'Yeah, that seemed like a good idea at the time, we'll see.' Kyla laughed.

The girls continued their conversation while eating lunch, Ashley staring with wide eyes as her younger sister shoveled all of the food into her mouth. They had finished and Ashley paid the bill.

The girls had walked back to Ashley, talking about all things baby. Kyla was nervous, but excited. And Ashley couldn't keep the smile from tugging at her lips when she thought about having a niece.

'So, I guess I should get going, Glen is gonna freak out of I don't get home soon. He has had me on bed rest for the past three days; I had to beg to come here today.' Kyla said, slightly annoyed.

'Well that's a good daddy.' Ashley smiled warmly at Kyla.

'Yeah, he's gonna be a great daddy.' Both girls hugged.

'Call me if you need anything.' Ashley said, 'I promise to answer the phone this time.'

'You better, you never know when this little girl is gonna decide to make her move.' Kyla shouted as she walked down the corridor to her car.

Ashley had walked back inside and stared at her apartment. When she had moved in she had only wanted to take the bare minimum, just what she needed. In her front room was her piano, a couch, and her guitar. No television, no big stereo system, no table, just what she needed to survive. Her kitchen had a microwave, a refrigerator and the regular kitchenware. You know, cups, bowls, plates, silverware. No table, no chairs, nothing. A table would mean that she actually wanted to sit down by herself and eat. To sit down by herself and realize that she would never have anybody to share a table with. Her room had a simple single mattress sitting on the floor, and a dresser in the corner.

She hadn't felt the need to decorate, to make this place feel like home, because as much as she wanted to move on, her home lied miles away in grey eyes and blond hair. Her home had disappeared long before she had moved into this apartment.

Maybe Kyla was right, maybe it was time to make this place a home. She had been moving on autopilot for so long, and if she wanted to move on with her life she needed to start here.

Her mind was set, tomorrow she would call Kyla and they would go shopping to decorate her apartment. Maybe then she could finally start feeling like she belonged somewhere again, maybe she could find her home.

The hours had flown by as Ashley sat on her couch thinking about these things. She stood up and made her way to her bedroom, pausing to turn the light off and shed her clothes. She fell into bed with a large sigh and began drifting to sleep with a hopeful smile playing on her lips.

She was stirred away several hours later by her phone.

_Na, you're a window shopper, taking a look, but you never buy. Nan you're a window shopper, you won't pick it up if it's over a fiver. Nan you're a window shopper get on the bus cause you still can't drive. Nan you're a window shopper, mad as fuck, only just alive._

It was Kyla, she knew that by the silly ringtone. Kyla had only just discovered Lily Allen, and was obsessed with that song. Ashley had liked it, laughing at it, but Kyla had gone crazy with a giggle fit when she heard it. She immediately insisted that that song be the ringtone when she called, so Ashley gave in upon seeing her little sister so happy about something so little.

'Yeah?' Ashley answered groggily.

'Ash, it's time.' Came the squeaky voice of her sister.

'What? Kyla, what are you talking about?' Ashley said in her sleep daze.

'The baby, she's decided now is the time.' Kyla rushed out as she let out a low groan of pain.

'Okay, I'll meet you at the hospital.' Ashley said as she ran around her room grabbing her things and tripping while trying to put on her pants.

She made her way out of the house and to her car. She was on her way to the hospital, to meet her niece, and couldn't help but smile widely at the thought.


	5. Chapter 5

**La da di da. I'm back. Again.**

**So here's the baby chapter. lol. It's a bit of a filler, but I think it's cute.**

**Oh, the song is _You Have My Attention_ by _Copeland_ and no I don't own that either. It's just an amazing song.**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing, no Spashely, no South, no Kyla, no Athlete, not even stupid Aiden. Just my crazy cool checkered glasses. So please don't sue. I'd probably cry.**

**-------**

It had been four hours since Ashley had arrived at the hospital to a frantic looking Glen and an angry Kyla. She had been standing next to her sister's bed this whole time, and every time Kyla had a contraction Ashley's hand felt like it was going to fall off. Kyla refused to let Glen near her, she had gone into a blind fury earlier, throwing things at Glen, proclaiming that she was gonna chop his junk off if he ever came near her again. So Glen sat, nervously, at the other end of the room.

'Kyla, babe, seriously, I know it hurts, but I'm gonna need my hand back in a minute or else Glen is going to have to come over here.' Ashley whined.

'You think this only hurts? It's fucking excrutiatinggggg-ahhhhh!' Kyla shouted as another contraction hit. They had started off slowly, but now they were progressing to every two or three minutes.

'Kyla, breathe kid.' Just as Ashley was trying to consult her little sister, the nurse came in to check up on Kyla.

'Well, it looks like we're about ready to start the show.' The nurse smiled at Kyla, who gave her the dirtiest look Ashley had ever seen.

'Really? That's exciting. That's good, right babe?' Glen asked excitedly.

'For you it is, you're not the one that has to pop a human being out of your vagina!' Kyla said angrily.

'I would if I could.' Glen tried to console his girlfriend.

'That's easy for you to say now.' Kyla laughed bitterly.

'Okay, okay you two. Glen, go sit back in your chair before she starts throwing things again.' Ashley said with a slight chuckle.

They had waited another ten minutes until the door had suddenly opened, and in walked the one person that Ashley had not wanted to run into today. She had been hoping that maybe, by some divine power, that she would stay home for this event.

'Hey guys, how's it going?' The brunette asked.

'How does it look like it's going?' Kyla snapped as another contraction hit.

Ashley tried to stifle her laugh, but was failing miserably. She liked that her sister was being rude to this outsider, this intruder.

'Well, it can only get better from here, right?' The brunette asked.

'Oh yeah, Felisha, it's gonna be great to pop a child out of me.' Kyla said, saying the woman's name with such disdain.

'So, uh, where's Spencer?' Glen decided to but in at that exact moment, hoping to stop the catfight that was sure to be in the future if somebody didn't intervene.

'Oh, she just had to use the restroom.' Felisha asked.

_Felisha, god what a stupid freaking name! I mean, couldn't she even spell it right? No she had to try to be all unique and spell it with an sh instead of a ci. Gah!_

Ashley couldn't help but hate the girl already, hate the girl that was currently in possession of her heart. She despised this woman, the intruder.

Just as she was thinking of the thousand ways in which she wanted to make the woman disappear, her senses kicked in and the door opened. She knew who it was before the woman even made her entry to the room. She had felt it, call her crazy, but she always knew when Spencer was near her. It was as if she had a Spencer sense.

It sounded ridiculous, and she knew it, but she couldn't not feel her presence in a room. It was impossible to not feel your heart when it was so close to you.

Spencer had walked into the room and immediately towards Felisha, who grabbed her hand and linked them.

'Hi Kyla, how're you feeling?' Spencer asked with a hint of apology.

Instead of being hostile, Kyla smiled towards the blonde, 'I'm okay, and these contractions are crazy.'

Ashley didn't find it the least bit weird that Kyla had been nice to Spencer, they had been friends since high school, and even though Ashley had dropped off the face of the earth for a little more than a year, Kyla and Spencer still maintained their friendship.

Spencer made a move to walk to the other side of Kyla, the side that Ashley was currently not occupying. She made no eye contact with Ashley, and avoided any type of conversation with her.

'We'll aren't you excited? You get to meet your baby girl in a little bit!' Spencer said, running her hand through Kyla's hair, calming her down.

Spencer always had a way of doing that to people. She could calm a room full of rowdy people in a matter of minutes.

'Yeah, I guess I am. I'm just not excited for the actual process.' Kyla said, as she suddenly gripped Ashley's hand when another contraction came on.

Ashley winced slightly in pain, she was sure that she was going to have to get her hand checked out before she left, Kyla had a grip like none other and refused to hold anybody else's hand.

The nurse came in the room in a flurry, moving about the room, setting things up.

'Okay, it's time; I'm just going to call the doctor.' The nurse said in a hurry as she rushed out of the room.

Ashley leaned down to Kyla's ear and whispered. 'You're going to do so good, you're a great mom already, and I'll be with you the whole time.'

A warm smile began to spread on Kyla's face. It had taken her and Ashley almost a year to start talking to each other, and almost two years to gain the friendship that they had now. She wouldn't trade her sister for the world, and was proud to have somebody that cared for her so much.

'Thank you.' Kyla whispered while gently squeezing the older girl's hand.

'Okay Kyla, it's time to start the process. I'm going to have to ask that the other's leave the room. Only two people can be in here with you.' The doctor announced as he began washing his hands.

Felisha stood up out of the chair she was in and stood at the door awkwardly as Spencer kissed Kyla on the forehead and walked towards the door. The arrangement had been made ahead of time; Kyla had wanted Ashley in the room with her, and Glen, obviously since he was the father. The arrangement worked out well considering the fact that Spencer hated hospitals.

A couple profanities, pushes, and excruciating hand grabs later, and Kyla was almost there.

'Okay Kyla, I can see the head, a couple more big pushes and you'll get to meet your baby girl.' The doctor said enthusiastically.

Kyla grunted loudly and then fell back onto the bed, her forehead covered in sweat. Glen had tried to come up and wipe it off a couple times earlier, until Kyla told him that she was going to take the tray on the side of the bed and shove it up his ass. He had steered clear of his girlfriend since then.

'Breathe Kyla, just breathe.' Ashley said soothingly as she mimicked how to breathe to her sister.

The final push had almost knocked Kyla out; she had fallen back on the bed almost in tears. Then Ashley heard, what she thought was the most beautiful sound ever, her niece screaming at the top of her lungs.

'Congratulations Kyla! You have a healthy baby girl!' The doctor exclaimed with a smile as the nurses had taken the baby to the side to clean her up.

'You did it baby! You did it, god you're so beautiful.' Glen said as he wrapped Kyla in a hug and kissed her sweaty head.

Ashley couldn't help but smile at the couple. They had come so far since they had started dating, and now they were proud parents of a beautiful baby girl.

Glen had let go of Kyla to walk over and hold his daughter for the first time.

Ashley had stared at Kyla for a while, just taking in all that was her. She hadn't been more proud of her sister than in that moment. She ran her hand through Kyla's hair for a while.

'I'm so proud of you.' Ashley whispered as the two sisters shared a look, an understanding, between the two of them.

Glen had come back to the bed carrying the most beautiful sight Ashley had ever seen.

'Mommy, meet your baby.' He said as he smiled and handed the baby to Kyla.

Kyla immediately had tears in her eyes. 'Hi baby, I'm your mommy.'

'So I guess I'll go tell everybody that everything is okay.' Glen said as he took one last look at his family and walked out of the door.

Kyla and Ashley had been sitting there staring at the baby for what seemed like an eternity.

'So, have you thought of a name yet?' Ashley asked quietly, not wanting to disturb the sleeping baby.

'Actually, I wanted to talk to you about that, me and Glen want you to name her.' Kyla said as she looked up to Ashley smiling.

'Kyla, no, I can't do that. She's your kid, you have to do that.' Ashley attempted to relent.

'Ashley, we've already decided, we want you to name her. There will be no arguments about this.' Kyla said.

'Here, you take her, let her meet her auntie.' Kyla said as she began to lift the baby to Ashley.

'Ashley had taken the baby and immediately melted. She had immediately fallen in love with the little girl before she was even born, and now in this moment, she had fallen even harder for the pink little bundle.

She didn't know how long she had been just staring down in awe at the little being, but when she looked towards her sister she was asleep.

Ashley had just decided to keep the baby in her arms; she didn't ever want to let her go. The baby stirred in her arms and began to fuss. Ashley had begun to rock her while walking around the room. The little bundle wasn't going for it, so she tried the only thing she could, she started to sing to her.

_Quiet now.  
Your voice sings miles away  
but somehow I hear your song resound  
A little bit softer each day  
And from my tired heart, a little bit farther away._

I'll sing along  
The whole day through.  
Just do your best to hear me.  
It's all you can do.

You have my attention  
Like you've had all the while,  
Since that first day when you made my heart smile,  
With loving eyes and tired sighs that follow.  
You have my attention  
Like a shout through an empty sanctuary.  
Speak but a whisper;  
I'll hear a sermon

By this time the baby had fallen asleep, but Ashley couldn't stop singing to her, if it's what made the baby happy, then she'd sing for the rest of her life.

While she was singing the door opened slowly and quietly, in the dark room she could hardly make out the figure but she knew who it was, she had known before the girl had even walked into the door.

_I'll sing along  
the whole day through.  
Just do your best to hear me.  
It's all you can do._

I'll sing along  
the whole night through.  
While you sleep safely,  
I'll be thinking about you.

You have my attention.

She finished the end of the song and looked up to the figure standing less than two feet away. The figure walked closer to her and peered into the bundle of blankets.

'She's beautiful.' The voice rasped. It was the first time in almost two years that she had heard that voice so close to her, addressing her.

'She's more than beautiful.' Ashley said as the both of them peered over the sleeping baby.

**Review, cause it's what all the cool kids are doing. :)**

**thanks.**


	6. Chapter 6

**Okie dokie artichokies. I'm being generous with the updating today.**

**I have no classes, no work, and i'm in the mood to write. So here's another one.**

**You can thank me later. jk jk.**

**It's what a couple of you have asked me for. So I hope I did it some justice.**

**Anyways, here you go.**

**oh! and today is the day of silence. 4.17.09 just in case you didn't know.**

**if you don't know what that is, educate yourself. www(dot)dayofsilence(dot)org**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing, no Spashely, no South, no Kyla, no Athlete, not even stupid Aiden. Just my crazy cool checkered glasses. So please don't sue. I'd probably cry.**

**-------**

Ashley and Spencer had been staring at the small bundle of joy for, what seemed like to Ashley, and eternity. In reality it had been about five minutes, and in those five wonderfully excruciating minutes Ashley had managed to stay on her feet and not pass out.

It was a strange thing what Spencer Carling could do to a person, with a two simple words. _She's beautiful._ That's all that it had taken for Ashley to fall completely heels-over-head in love with the blond again. She found it completely ridiculous that after all of this time, this girl could still make her feel like she was the only one in the room, even in a crowded, tiny, hospital room with her sister passed out behind her and a baby in her hand.

The silence had begun to get to Ashley, as well as Spencer. Something had to be said, and fast. Ashley didn't want Spencer to just up and leave, this was progress, and she didn't want to take those two steps back.

'They asked me to name her.' Ashley said softly.

Spencer turned her head to look at the older girl. 'Yeah? Got any ideas on the name you like?'Spencer asked just as softly.

'I don't know, I mean it's a big deal, naming a kid is a pretty big deal. She's gonna be stuck with it for the rest of her life. It's going to be so much a large part of her life. What if I give her a horrible name?' Ashley thought, more to herself than to Spencer.

'Ashley, I have no doubt that you'll give her a great name.' Spencer said politely while staring at the side of Ashley's face.

Ashley could feel her eyes burning a hole into the side of her face, it was uncomfortably welcomed. She had been waiting for this day for close to two years now. She had been waiting for the day that she could be in the same room as Spencer and not have to see her with anybody else, to just be.

'Spence, look, I-' The door swung open as Glen and Felisha came inside.

'Hey, how's she doing?' Glen asked quietly, realizing that Kyla was knocked out on the bed behind them.

'She's okay, she fell asleep about two minutes after handing me the baby.' Ashley explained.

'So what's the verdict?' Glen asked, curious as to what his daughters name was going to be.

'I'm not so sure yet. I'll let you know when I know.' Ashley smirked at the older boy.

Throughout this whole ordeal with her and Spencer, Glen had been great. He hadn't hated Ashley, and he hadn't sided with Spencer. It was a relief to know that her best friends boyfriend, and the father of her niece, didn't hate her guts.

'You know, I always like the name Cynthia.' Felisha chose that moment to speak up.

'Cynthia?' Ashley and Glen snorted at the same time. Who was this chick?

'I happen to think Cynthia is a great name.' Spencer glared at the two who were causing trouble.

'Come on Spence, she can't be named Cynthia. This girl is a Carlin-Davies; she has to have a unique name, one that will match her amazing personality.' Glen explained.

'It can't be plane Jane, it has to be perfect.' Ashley said softly as she looked down at the bundle in her arms. 'And I think it's time for daddy Carlin to take over here.' Ashley said as she passed baby Carlin over.

'I'm gonna go get some air, maybe some coffee. I'll be back.' Ashley explained as she headed towards Kyla's bed to give her a kiss on the forehead.

She had to get out of that room, it was suffocating in there. Everything she had wanted and everything she had given up was inside that room. It would have been only a short amount of time before she broke down.

She made her way down the hollow, empty, halls that this hospital was full of, and out into the sun. That sun that had always made her smile no matter what, it was the only thing that was able to make her smile in the months after everything had happened.

'_What do you want me to say Ashley? Do you want me to say that I'm sorry?' Spencer asked angrily._

'_I want you to consider it, consider us. Did you even think about us when you made your decision?!' Ashley screamed._

'_Of course I did. What kind of stupid question is that? I constantly think about us, put us first. It's my turn Ashley; it's my turn to do something for myself. It's your turn to be the supportive one.' Spencer pleaded._

'_How am I supposed to be supportive of my girlfriend moving across the fucking country?! How am I supposed to be supportive of you asking for space and time? What the fuck is this space and time bullshit Spence? I can come with you, we can live together, and you can go to school. We'll work it out.' Ashley begged._

'_Ashley, it's my time now. It's my time to do something for myself, to find myself. I'm not saying that we stop talking, or dating, you know I love you. I love you so much, I'm asking for space, space for me to find myself. I need my autonomy!' Spencer shouted._

_The girls had been going rounds for days now. Ashley couldn't understand how it was possible that Spencer was making this decision. This decision to move to New York and go to college and the decision to leave Ashley behind, so she could find herself._

_Spencer on the other hand couldn't understand how Ashley couldn't see how important this was to her. She had gotten into NYU and wanted to find herself, herself without Ashley, so she could be with Ashley. She didn't know who she was without the girl right next to her, and that scared her. She needed to find out._

'_Autonomy?! You need your fucking autonomy?! Fine, you got it. I'm done with this bullshit Spencer. It's all of me, or none of me. I'm not going to play this game. I asked you to marry me; you tell me you want space. I can't do it Spencer. I'm ready to spend the rest of my life with you. I know what I want, who I want. You obviously don't know who you want or what you want. I can't wait around and watch you break my heart, I can't and I won't.' Ashley screamed._

'_So that's it? You're just done with me? I accepted your proposal Ashley, I just need some time. Please, just a couple more years.' Spencer begged quietly, her voice breaking._

'_I can't Spencer. I can't take that change of separating from you. I know how this goes. I give you your space; we do the long distance thing, until you meet somebody, somebody better than me and then I'm left in the dirt wondering what the hell happened. I won't do it Spencer, don't ask me to.' Ashley had begun crying by then._

'_Don't do this Ashley, don't.' Spencer pleaded again._

'_I'm not doing anything, you are.' Ashley said as she walked away._

'_Ashley, wait.' Spencer said as she walked towards Ashley who had paused in the frame of the door._

'_Spence, please, I can't do this right now.' Ashley sniffled._

_Spencer slipped the silver band off of her left hand and held it out to Ashley. Ashley stared at the band. The band that was supposed to symbolize the beginning of their life together, the band that was slowly starting to symbolize their demise._

_She grabbed the ring out of Spencer's fingers, took one last look at the girl who held her heart, and walked out of the room._

Ashley had been sitting on the sidewalk for twenty minutes now, thinking about everything that was said on their last day. She was fiddling with the necklace around her neck. It was a silver chain with a silver ring around it. The silver ring that Spencer had given back to her so many months ago, the silver ring that symbolized the demise of the one good thing in her life, the ring that symbolized her broken heart.

**Review? Let me know what you think about the Spashley background.**


	7. Chapter 7

**Another update. I'm feeling generous, that and I like to procrastinate doing my homework.**

**While my roommate studies for her three midterms tomorrow. lol. I'm such a bad influence.**

**Yay for being in university and not doing my work. lol.**

**Anyways, here you go, a little more Spashley interaction.**

**P.S. the song is _Brightest_ by _Copeland_. I imagine her singing to the acoustic version, cause well, I'm a sucker for acoustic music. :)**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing, no Spashely, no South, no Kyla, no Athlete, not even stupid Aiden. Just my crazy cool checkered glasses. So please don't sue. I'd probably cry.**

'Remy Harper Carlin you sure do have a set of lungs on you!' Ashley cooed to the baby in her arms as it wailed out of control.

The baby had been crying for the last thirty minutes and Kyla had finally gotten so frustrated that she called Ashley. Ashley had rushed right over to Kyla's, upon her insistence.

It was six in the morning and Ashley was rocking Remy around the room while whispering to her. She had yet to stop her screaming.

'Ashley, come on, just do it already! You know she won't stop until you do.' Kyla begged her sister.

'You know, you're gonna have to find something that works for you. Don't get me wrong, I love this little girl, but I can't always be there to sing her to sleep.' Ashley said.

'I know, but I haven't gotten any sleep in the last four days, she just doesn't stop. The only thing that ever calms her down is your singing.' Kyla said exhausted.

'Alright, lie down in bed and relax. I'll take care of it Kyla.' Ashley reasoned.

'Thank you so much. I swear, just a couple hours and I'll be good to go.' Kyla said as she gave Ashley and Remy a kiss on the cheek before turning to walk to her room.

Ashley had been walking around with Remy for about a half an hour now, just talking to her. She had taken pride in the little being, and enjoyed the time that they got to spend together. She wanted to teach the baby everything that she knew. She had been reading baby books, and they had all told her that babies had brains like sponges, and while she had probably taken that too literally, she couldn't help but want to talk to the baby about everything and teach her everything about the world.

She figured it was about time that Remy got some sleep so she began to sing to her. This was another thing that she loved about her alone time with Remy, she could sing to her without the worry of being judged. Remy loved all of her songs and Ashley loved singing them to her. She had been singing all of the songs that she had written right after her and Spencer had split, before she hit her block.

_If you find yourself here on my side of town  
I'd pray that you'd come to my door  
Talk to me like you don't know what we ever fought about  
Cause I don't remember anymore  
I just know that she warms my heart  
And knows what all my imperfections are  
And she said that I was the brightest little firefly in her jar_

And I just know that she warms my heart  
And knows what all my imperfections are  
And she says that I am the brightest little firefly in her jar

Ashley looked down into her arms and found a sleeping little baby. She smiled to herself while moving towards Remy's room.

The room was adorable, her and Glen had decorated it right after the baby shower. It was a simple pastel purple theme, which made Ashley happy. She loved that her sister and Glen weren't trying to force some girly stereotype on the baby already.

She had securely tucked Remy into her crib and turned on her mobile when she heard the front door opening and closing downstairs. She quietly shut the door and made her way downstairs.

'Kyla?' The voice called out. 'I've got breakfast, just like you asked.'

'Spencer? Is that you?' Ashley called out as she walked to the kitchen. She didn't have to ask, she already knew, but didn't want to frighten the girl.

'Oh hey, sorry, I didn't know you were here.' Spencer said awkwardly.

'Yeah, I've got the golden ticket to putting Remy to sleep.' Ashley joked.

'What're you doing? Drugging her?' Spencer laughed. She always knew Ashley wasn't much of a baby person, so it had surprised her when Ashley had taken such a liking to Remy.

'Oh yeah, you know it. I'm totally in the business of drugging infants.' Ashley said as she rolled her eyes.

'Yeah, I figured.' Spencer smirked. 'So what is this so called 'golden ticket' you possess?' Spencer asked using her fingers to make air quotes.

'Oh you know nothing special. It just seems that Remy doesn't really like to fall asleep to anything but singing, and since Kyla is tone deaf the job has fallen to me.' Ashley said, trying to play it off smoothly. She didn't want Spencer to make a big deal out of it, it was her and Remy's thing, and she wanted to keep it that way.

'You always did have a beautiful voice Ashley.' Spencer stated.

'It's okay, I guess.' Ashley said shyly.

'Right, well, Kyla asked me to bring over breakfast this morning since she has her hands full, but I'm assuming she's still asleep?' Spencer said.

'Oh yeah, she's only been asleep for about an hour now. She definitely needs the sleep, so let's not wake her up.' Ashley said as she looked towards the stairs.

'Okay, well, I guess I'll just leave the food here for her then.' Spencer said as she put the food away into the refrigerator.

'Yeah, okay.' Ashley said absently as she watched Spencer's movements.

'Okay, well I guess I'll get going then.' Spencer said awkwardly as she walked towards the front door.

She had just put her hand on the doorknob when a voice stopped her.

'Or you could stay here and eat breakfast? I mean, there's no way Kyla is going to eat that much, and it's probably going to go bad before she wakes up. Nobody likes reheated eggs and toast.' Ashley ventured nervously.

'Um, sure. I mean, yeah, I have time. That sounds good.' Spencer said.

Ashley moved towards the refrigerator to take the food out again as Spencer grabbed plates and utensils. They silently set the table and filled their plates.

'So, how've you been?' Ashley asked, unsure as to how to start the conversation.

'I've been good, good. Busy, but that's life right?' Spencer stated.

'Yeah.' Ashley said.

Their conversation had come to an abrupt halt in less than a minute. If this wasn't a sign, Ashley didn't know what was. They continued to sit in awkward conversation, the sound of scraping utensils on the plates at the soundtrack to their morning.

'So, what have you been up to?' Spencer asked cautiously.

'Not much, just helping out with Kyla, keeping to myself, and trying to figure some things out.' Ashley said as she picked out her eggs.

'You know, I never pictured you as a baby person. You always told me that you never wanted kids, but the way you act with Remy, I swear you were born to be a mother.' Spencer said.

'Yeah, I never really thought of myself as a baby person either. There's just something about that little girl that makes me so happy, makes me see things in a different light.' Ashley smiled fondly.

'Well look at you, you look like a little kid on Christmas morning.' Spencer laughed lightly.

'She's my remedy.' Ashley said quietly.

'You're remedy?' Spencer questioned.

'Yeah, that's why I named her Remy Harper. She's my musical remedy. She's what's going to get me out of this rut; she's the light at the end of the tunnel for me.' Ashley confessed.

'Wow, I figured you had just thought of the name. I didn't think that there was a meaning to it.' Spencer said.

'Yeah, well I figured her name should be important, just like her.' Ashley smiled.

'Well I think her name is beautiful. I told you that you'd do a great job.' Spencer said as she looked at Ashley.

'You always did believe in me Spence.' Ashley sighed out.

The two had finished their plates and were just sitting quietly in their own thoughts. Ashley had never been good at subtlety, so it was no surprise to her when she blurted out exactly what she was thinking.

'So what happened with NYU?'

'Um, NYU wasn't what I expected it to be, after everything with Clay I knew that I had to be home for my family. It just didn't feel right being that far away from them.' Spencer said quietly.

'I'm sorry I never called you that day. I should have, to see how you were doing. You were there when my dad died, and when you needed me the most I was nowhere.' Ashley apologized.

It was one of the things she had regretted the most. Clay had died about three months into Spencer's freshman year at NYU. She had heard about it on the news one night, a boy was driving home from a friend's house one fateful Wednesday night, only to be caught in the crossfire's of a drive-by. It was normal for L.A., but as soon as Ashley had heard the names Clay Carlin and Chelsea Lewis, she knew it wasn't just another drive-by.

'Yeah, well the past is the past right? We got through it okay.' Spencer said distantly.

'I know Spence, it's just, I regret it so much you know? The way that I handled everything that da-' Ashley was cut off by the sound of Remy crying. She sent Spencer an apologetic look.

'It's okay, I've gotta get going anyways, Felisha is probably wondering where I am.' Spencer said as she moved to put her plate in the kitchen sink.

'Spence, just wait, it'll only take a minute.' Ashley pleaded.

'We'll catch up later; I've really got to get going.' Spencer said, picking up her bag and walking out of the front door and to her car.

Ashley walked up the stairs to Remy's room and picked her up, rocking her back and forth.

'You sure know when to interrupt a conversation, don't you?' Ashley said as she stared down at the blue eyed girl.

**Wow, so, not gonna lie, right before I posted this I had to catch myself.**

**I almost posted it with Spencer saying that Carmen was waiting for her. lol.**

**Wow, if I could put into words how much I hate Spangs, I would. I'm glad i caught that at the last minute.**

**It was total reflex for Spencer to be in a relationship with Carmen, and I'm not sure why. lol.**

**Anyways, review? They make my day. :)**


	8. Chapter 8

**I know, I know, I know. It's been like a week and a half since I've updated.**

**I could blame it on the fact that I had midterms that I actually had to study for [stupid pre-calc], or I could blame it on the fact that I've been working like a beast, or that I went home to visit my mommy and go aparment shopping so that I have somewhere to live after this term is over, and then had to arrange all this stuff for said apartment [which I totally got :)], I could say my lack of sleep finally caught up, or I could say that I was way busy to summarize it all.**

**Truth is, all those things are true up ^^^ there, but basically life happens, and if you're a writer then you know that writing cannot be forced. I had a total major writers block, and couldn't find any inspiration. Hopefully that changes, and I'm currently making an outline for future chapters so I know where this is going, well kinda. lol.**

**If you have some story ideas, I'd love to hear them, then maybe they'll make an appearance in this little chicken scratch story.**

**Disclaimer: And if it's still surprising to you, like it is to me, no I do not own South of Nowhere, or Athlete, or, well pretty much anything. Just me, my laptop, my spiffy ass sunglasses, and as of yesterday my super spiffy hat. :)**

---------------------------

Two short weeks later, and a random phone call, and Ashley was on her way to the Carlin-Woods residence. The phone call she had received from Glen was short and cryptic, leaving her to assume that it was yet another call about Remy.

She had shrugged her jacket on and grabbed her keys before walking down to catch the bus. She could have any car she wanted, if she wanted, however she had opted for public transit after moving into her apartment. It wasn't that she didn't want to spend the money on a vehicle for her, but public transit had made her feel so human, much more so than she had felt in the previous months.

It was a quick walk to Kyla's and Glen's after getting off at the right stop, and the fact that Glen had been so cryptic had only shortened the walk more, leaving Ashley attempting to catch her breath once she arrived at the house. She had barely enough time to catch said breath before the door flew open revealing a disheveled Glen.

'Oh thank god you're here!' Glen said as he grabbed Ashley and through her into the house.

'God, I've got to stop smoking.' Ashley muttered as Glen pulled her further into the house towards the kitchen. 'Glen, stop. What is going on? Why did you insist on me getting here as fast as I could? Is it Remy again, cause I told Kyla that you guys were going to have to figure something out to calm her down witho-' Ashley was suddenly cut off by the scene playing out in front of her.

Spencer Carlin was attempting to cook, only proving further that it was not something the blonde could ever master. The kitchen had looked like a bag of flour had exploded on it, and Spencer was covered in sauce. However, the blonde was in her own world and had yet to realize that Ashley and Glen were watching her.

'Glen, what's going on?' Ashley asked completely confused.

'My parents called, they flew out here and are staying for the week and want to have a family dinner here tonight. Spencer went crazy, talking about dinner arrangements and guests, the next thing I know she's in my kitchen attempting to make dinner for everybody.' Glen explains frantically, with hand gestures and all.

'Why isn't Kyla cooking?'

'Spencer insisted on Kyla resting, something about being on her feet too much. I don't know. All I know is that I can't convince her to stop. She's in he own little world and I can't pull her out.' Glen said.

'So why am I here exactly?'

'You're here to stop her. Duh, why else would I call you?' Glen stated as if it was the most obvious answer ever.

'How am I supposed to do that Glen? If you and Kyla can't convince her, what makes you think that I can?' Ashley asked incredulously, this was turning out to be a waste of her time, even if it was highly amusing.

'Oh come on Ash, everybody knows she listens to you.' Glen said dramatically.

'Glen, we haven't talked in over a year, not seriously anyways, and things are still extremely tense between us, she's not gonna listen to me.' Ashley said sadly.

'Ashley, please, we've tried everything. I'm still trying to clean the house before my parents get here. Can't you just see if you can reason with her? I've tried everything.' Glen pleaded.

'You owe me, so much, you owe me so much.' Ashley said as she shook her head.

'Thank you, thank you, thank you. I'm going to go finish cleaning and then go shower before I go pick my parents up.' Glen said as he walked out of the room.

Ashley continued to watch Spencer as she clumsily maneuvered around the kitchen in her sad attempt at cooking a feast. She wasn't sure how long she had been staring, but she was snapped out of her dream-like state at the sound of glass breaking. Her eyes focused back onto Spencer holding her left hand tightly in her right, and broken glass all over the counter and floor.

'Ouch, fuck, crap, ouch ouch ouch.' Spencer hopped around attempting to alleviate the pain in her left hand.

Ashley rushed forward once her brain began to function.

'Let me see.' Ashley said as she tried to pull Spencer's hand into her own.

'Oh god, you scared me!' Spencer said as she slowly moved her left hand closer to herself.

'I'm not going to hurt you, now let me see your hand.' Ashley smiled slightly while rolling her eyes.

This was something that Spencer had always done, any time she had even the smallest wound, she refused to let anybody see out of fear of them hurting her even more.

Spencer slowly let Ashley take her hand and inspect it.

'Geez Spence, you sure know how to make a mess.' Ashley joked.

In all reality Spencer's cut wasn't too bad, of course there was blood coming out of it, but Ashley didn't want to tell Spencer that. She had a phobia of blood, in fact if there was a more severe word other than phobia then Ashley would use that to describe just how much the blonde hated the liquid.

'Yeah, well at least I'm good at that.' Spencer said as she pouted playfully.

Ashley continued to inspect Spencer's hand while they stood there.

'So what're you cooking?' Ashley asked, trying to take Spencer's mind off of what she was currently doing to the blonde's hand.

'Well, I was trying to cook dinner for my parents, my mom's favorite dish is vegetarian enchiladas, and unfortunately I'm not doing such a great job.' Spencer explained.

'Well I'm sure she'll love it just because you tried your best.' Ashley said as she finished bandaging Spencer's hand. She was lucky that when she had found out about Kyla's pregnancy she had gone through the house putting first aid kits all throughout the rooms and baby proofing the place.

'Yeah, I doubt it; I mean I burned the water I was boiling.' Spencer had a perplexed look on her face. She honestly did not know how that had happened.

'You always were more creative with film than cooking. Okay, all done.' Ashley said as she released Spencer's hand, revealing a small Spiderman band aid covering the left side of Spencer's hand.

'How'd you do that?' Spencer asked confused.

'How'd I do what? Put a band aid on your hand? Well Spencer, I knew you weren't too good with the whole cooking thing, but you should know how to put a band aid on, I mean your mom is a doctor.' Ashley joked. She knew what Spencer had been referring to, but had chosen not to comment on it.

Spencer playfully shoved Ashley's shoulder, 'Not how'd you put a band aid on my hand, jerk, I meant how'd you clean me up and everything without me even realizing what you were doing?' Spencer asked.

'Oh you know, the magic of Spiderman, he just makes everything better.' Ashley said casually as she pointed to the box of Spiderman band aids.

'You're such a nerd.' Spencer laughed at Ashley and went to move, she suddenly felt a firm hand on her forearm.

'No, don't move, you're not wearing shoes and there is glass all over the place. Let me get the broom and dustpan. Don't move.' Ashley explained as she walked to the kitchen pantry and grabbed said items.

She swiftly walked back into the kitchen and began to sweep the mess off of the floor. Not only was there glass everywhere, but it seemed that Spencer had managed to spill the contents of the entire refrigerator and freezer onto the floor.

'Thank you.' Spencer said quietly as she watched Ashley sweeping up the mess in front of her.

'No problem, I seem to be the mess picker upper lately. That's the only reason I ever get called over here anymore.' Ashley chuckled lightly.

'Well thank you, wait? What do you mean; they called you over here to clean up a mess? Who's mess?' Spencer asked slightly confused.

'You.' Ashley simply stated.

'What do you mean me? I'm not a mess.' Spencer said slightly annoyed.

'Oh yes, I can tell by the half of a jar of sauce you have on you, and the fact that there is flower all over your face. By the way, why do you have flower out if you're cooking enchiladas?' Ashley asked amused.

'Okay, so I'm slightly unorganized, but I was doing okay before I dropped the bowl.' Spencer attempted to justify herself.

By this time Ashley had finished sweeping and walked closer to Spencer to look at what she assumed where supposed to be the infamous vegetarian enchiladas Spencer was trying to make.

'You are aware that you don't cook enchiladas on the stove right? And that enchiladas aren't a type of soup.' Ashley giggled looking over to Spencer.

'Oh whatever, I was trying, I would have figured it all out by the time they got here.' Spencer said slightly annoyed.

'With a little help maybe.' Ashley said as she poked at what was inside of the pan. It was cold, she was pretty sure that when one cooked on a stove that heat was involved.

'I don't need help.' Spencer said stubbornly.

Ashley held a wooden spoon out to Spencer, 'Try this really quick.'

'I don't need to try it, I know it's good.' Spencer said, crossing her arms.

'If you know it's good then just try it. What's the worst that happens? You like it and then I leave you alone.' Ashley pressured Spencer.

'Fine, I will, and then you will have to admit that I do know how to cook.' Spencer said haughtily as she grabbed the spoon from Ashley's hand.

She shoved as much of the spoon as she could fit into her mouth and quickly made a scrunched up face. She had to force herself to swallow the horrid creation.

'So? How was it?' Ashley asked with a big grin on her face.

'It was, great.' Spencer tried to play it off.

'So why do you look like the bitter beer guy then?' Ashley asked amused.

'I do not! This is my normal face!' Spencer said as she punched Ashley's shoulder.

'Hey, do not abuse me because you look like an old man that swallowed his face.' Ashley laughed pushing Spencer away.

'Okay, so maybe it wasn't the best in the world, but I'm not done with it yet.' Spencer tried, again, to defend herself.

'Oh yeah, okay. So what else were you going to do to it?' Ashley asked curiously.

'Well I was just going to, uh, I was going to add, uh, oh I don't know! Are you happy?! I suck at cooking, there I admitted it.' Spencer said with a frustrated growl.

'Hey, it's not that big of a deal, not everybody can cook.' Ashley said lightly, trying to make Spencer feel better. 'I can help you if you want.'

'Since when do you cook?' Spencer asked incredulously.

'Well, living on your own for over a year sure does have its perks, and not everywhere in L.A. is vegetarian friendly. I picked up a couple classed at the community college, no big deal.' Ashley shrugged.

'Fine, you can help me, but only on one condition.' Spencer said.

'Fine, what condition?' Ashley smiled.

'You stay for dinner.' Spencer replied.

'Spencer, I don't know, me and your parents don't have the hottest history. You know your mom isn't fond of me.' Ashley said sadly.

'Please, please, please?! I need somebody to take the pressure off of me.' Spencer said with a pout.

That stupid pout. That stupid adorably adorable Spencer Carlin pout that could make Ashley turn into putty around the younger girl.

'Oh, so you're just using me to take the heat off of you?' Ashley joked.

'Basically, but look at it this way, if you stay, we can hang out longer.' Spencer amended.

'So that's supposed to make up for the fact that you're using me?' Ashley laughed.

'Well I am THE Spencer Carlin.' Spencer said dramatically.

'Yeah yeah, we all know that. Fine, I'll stay, but I'm not going to like it.' Ashley agreed.

'Trust me; visits with my parents aren't my favorite thing either.' Spencer laughed.

'Well you'll have me this time.' Ashley smiled as she began to move about the kitchen gathering supplies for dinner.

**Reviews? :) even though I'm lame and took so long to update.**


	9. Chapter 9

**if we're being honest, i'm lame. it's been forever since i've updated. and this is kinda short.**

**in between watching brunch with bridget and this just out [if you haven't seen or heard of these, check them out at afterellen. they're amazing. and the spashley brunch with bridget is just amazing!] i managed to shove this chapter out.**

**i'll admit, it's a total filler. however, i did feel it was necessary to see spashly interact a tad bit more before dinner. so, i'll stop babbling now.**

**oh. the good news about this story is that my first year of university is coming to a close in the next month, so i will be able to focus on this more.**

**enjoyyyyyy.**

**Disclaimer: And if it's still surprising to you, like it is to me, no I do not own South of Nowhere, or Athlete, or, well pretty much anything. Just me, my laptop, my spiffy ass sunglasses. oh and i don't own brunch with bridget, or this just out. in case that was a concern. lol.**

Ashley and Spencer had been cooking for the better part of an hour and had successfully created a meal that could feed a whole football team, when Spencer suddenly burst out in a fit of giggles.

'What?' Ashley asked, completely oblivious as to what Spencer was laughing about.

'Oh, nothing.' Spencer got out between her fits of laughter.

'Do not make me use your middle name.' Ashley threatened.

'You wouldn't.' Spencer stared straight in to Ashley's eyes.

'I would if I was provoked. Now tell me what you were laughing at, or I might just be provoked.' Ashley said while raising an eyebrow.

'I don't think you would, and it's way more amusing to just laugh at you.' Spencer began laughing again.

'I warned you. Spencer Madonna Carlin tell me what you are laughing at or you will be sorry!' Ashley threatened again, stifling her giggles at using the blonde's nickname.

Spencer had immediately turned bright red upon hearing her middle name. It honestly was not her fault that her mother had been obsessed with Madonna in the 80's and refused to change her mind on Spencer's middle name, thank the universe that her father had an obsession with Spencer Tracy or her name could have been so much worse.

'I can't believe you just said that out loud, I told you that in secrecy!' Spencer squealed.

'I told you not to provoke me.' Ashley replied.

'Oh, I'm gonna provoke you alright.' Spencer said as she grabbed a hand full of flour and threw it at Ashley.

Ashley, who was covered in flour, stared at Spencer in shock. 'I can't believe you just did that, you are so dead.'

Spencer quickly moved around the kitchen attempting to find anything to block herself with as Ashley grabbed anything off of the counter to launch at Spencer.

The girls had been going on for a couple of minutes when they heard somebody clearing their throat behind them. They both looked up from what they were currently doing to see who the intruder was.

'You guys do know that you're cleaning that up before the Carlin's get here, right?' Kyla asked while she took in her surroundings. There was flour everywhere, including Ashley and Spencer.

'Uh, sorry Kyla, we just kind of got caught up.' Spencer attempted to explain.

'It was her fault!' Ashley had blurted out at the same time that Spencer was trying to explain.

'It so was not! You used my middle name!' Spencer argued.

'You were laughing at me and wouldn't tell me why. I warned you about your middle name, and then BAM! Out of nowhere you freaking launch flour at me!' Ashley argued back.

The two began to bicker about whose fault it was until Kyla finally got fed up and interrupted them.

'I swear, you guys haven't changed one bit. You're like freaking 11 year olds.' Kyla laughed.

The two stopped arguing and finally looked at each other. Both were covered in flour and dough from the biscuits. Vegetables were strewn everywhere throughout the kitchen and Spencer was using a cutting board as a shield.

'Well, I always said I was a Toys R' Us kid.' Ashley started laughing, Spencer joining soon after.

'Alright you two, it's time for some separation. Spencer you're parents are going to be here anytime, you need to go get cleaned up. You can use my bathroom and pick some clothes out from my closet.'

'Okay mom.' Spencer exaggerated as she stood up and began walking up the stairs.

Ashley began to move around the kitchen cleaning things up.

'And you, drop the celery stick, you have some explaining to do.' Kyla instructed.

'Explaining? I thought I told you what happened, or did that not go through your thick skull?' Ashley joked, attempting to avoid the conversation she was about to have.

'You know what I'm talking about so don't play dumb.' Kyla simply stated.

'I don't know Kyla. Nothing is going on, she's with Felisha, and I just want my best friend back. It's been so long since I've been happy, and if friendship is on the table, then I'm going to take it.' Ashley explained.

'Ashley, you and I both know that that's not all that is going through that brain of yours.'

'Kyla, just leave it, okay? We're friends, nothing more.' Ashley said angrily.

'Okay, I'll leave it. It's just; I see the way you look at her and the way she looks at you. It was always you two, and when you're with each other you seem to forget all of the consequences of your actions. I get it, you love her, but I don't want you to get hurt. I don't want you to go through what you had to go through for the past two years again.' Kyla said softly.

'I know Ky. Trust me I don't want to go through that again either, which is why we are just friends, nothing more. She's happy with Felisha, and I'm happy just being friends.' Ashley replied.

'Okay, I trust you.' Kyla said. 'So, the Carlin's are going to be here soon, are you staying?'

'Yeah, Spencer asked me to. Ya know, take the heat off of her for a while.' Ashley said absently as she began cleaning up.

'Alright, well how about we clean this up and then you can go get cleaned up before they get here.'

Kyla and Ashley successfully cleaned the kitchen by the time Spencer had come down the stairs to finish dinner.

'Alright, well I'm gonna go shower and get ready really quick. I'll be back.' Ashley said as she ran up the stairs to her sister's room.

It had been thirty minutes since Ashley had gotten out of the shower and she had been staring at the clothes in Kyla's closet for the past ten. She had no clue what to wear; she had stopped dressing up about two years ago. She didn't see the point in it anymore; she was far from the materialistic seventeen year old girl she used to be. She was happy in skinny jeans, a v neck t-shirt, and a pair of Chucks or Vans. Thus her dilemma, Kyla dressed in nice clothes, nice skimpy clothes. The kind of clothes that Ashley was no longer comfortable wearing.

'Ashley! Seriously, you have got to be ready by now! You've been up there for forty minutes! They're right around the corner!' Kyla yelled as she ran up the stairs towards her room.

When she entered she found her sister in her closet in nothing but her underwear and bra. She had her make-up and hair done, but was not dressed.

'I hope you don't plan on wearing that to dinner. I somehow don't think the Carlin's would approve of that. Well, not all of the Carlin's anyway.' Kyla gestured towards her sister.

'No Kyla, I don't plan on wearing only my underwear and bra. Don't you have just jeans and a regular t-shirt in this endless abyss?' Ashley asked, moving more clothes around.

'Yes, I do, but you should probably dress nice. I mean everybody else is. How about a nice dress?' Kyla suggested as she moved towards her dresses.

'That is where I draw the line.' Ashley said.

'Fine, how about these jeans, and a nice top? See, still nice, but still casual.' She said as she rummaged through her tops. She landed on one and threw it at Ashley. 'And hurry up! They're right down the road!'

'Fine fine fine. You're so bossy, you know, you didn't used to be this way.' Ashley muttered as she pulled the jeans and t-shirt on.

'Yeah, well that's when you could dress yourself without my help.' Kyla laughed as Ashley threw a hanger at her. 'I'll see you downstairs.'

'Yeah, just give me five minutes.'

Ashley finished dressing and looked herself over in the mirror one more time before she heard the door open and more voices downstairs.

**Review? :) pwweease. i only got two reviews for the last chapter. kinda sad guys, kinda sad.**


	10. Chapter 10

**in the spirit of failing my second chemistry midterm** [thus officially stamping my froshmore status for next year on my forhead]**, the new sick of sarah EP being out on iTunes** [if you haven't bought it, do it. cause i'm making you. and autograph is fucking amazing. i've had it on repeat for the past hour or so. abisha uhl = love.]**, the lady not wrapping my burrito right** [which made it fall apart on me]**, forgetting to set my alarm this morning** [making me miss my spanish class]**, i decided to post this.**

**it seems short, cause there are no words, but i assure you it was kinda long. lol.**

**i wanted to write, but didn't know where to take the next chapter. so i decided to dive into ashley's head a litte further. on a more personal level.**

**Disclaimer: And if it's still surprising to you, like it is to me, no I do not own South of Nowhere, or Athlete, or, well pretty much anything. Just me, my laptop, my spiffy ass sunglasses, oh and now the new sick of sarah EP and my froshmore status.**

**--------------**

The Carlin's had always scared Ashley beyond belief. In fact, the only one she had ever been slightly comfortable around was Mr. C himself. The same man that had saved her and Spencer from the psychotic guy in the middle of nowhere, the same man that had accepted her relationship with Spencer from day one, the same man that had given his consent to Ashley to ask Spencer to marry her.

Paula Carlin had been a completely different story. Ashley had feared that women more than she feared the CIA. Paula Carlin had never been her biggest fan, and with good reason. She had seen the side of Ashley that everybody had seen. The party girl, the girl who slept with everybody, did drugs, and drank herself to oblivion every night. What Paula Carlin didn't see, refused to see, was the Ashley that Spencer had seen. The Ashley that had stopped the drugs and drinking for Spencer, the Ashley that had stayed up simply waiting to hear the younger blondes voice before she drifted to sleep. The Ashley that was totally and completely heels over head in love with Spencer Carlin.

The walls were built, and the restrictions out in the open. Paula Carlin had despised Ashley, forbid her daughter from seeing her. They had gone through hell and back, both Paula and Ashley refusing to give up the fight for Spencer. In the end Paula had learned to live with her daughter's sexual preference, and eventually with Ashley. In fact, the two had been on good terms before her and Spencer had dissolved. Paula even, albeit hesitatingly, given Ashley permission to ask Spencer for her hand in marriage.

It was so long ago that those things had happened; it had been so long since she had first fallen for the beautiful blonde hair, blue eyed teenager of her dreams. She had thought the world of Spencer, whether or not the younger girl realized it. She couldn't pinpoint the exact moment that she fell in love with the younger girl, but she was sure she had always loved her. Even from the moment that she had spilled her coffee all over the floor in an attempt to help Ashley out.

Their relationship had never been easy, the two spent more time defending their relationship than actually having one, but Ashley had been determined to fight for it every step of the way. They had broken up and gotten back together a couple of times, but after the whole prom incident Ashley had promised herself to make it right, to show Spencer just how much she did love her, how much of the brunette's heart she held with her, no matter if they were together or not.

Maybe it was the pressure of her parents, maybe it was the pressure of society, maybe it was the pressure of Ashley, but for whatever reason the girls hadn't been able to pull it together in the end. Ashley had learned to accept that maybe love was just not in the cards for her. It had been almost two years to the day since she and Spencer had that fateful argument. Ashley had learned to accept her faults in the break up, she had learned that her pressure on Spencer couldn't have been healthy at all. However, she did defend herself in saying that she had never loved anybody more than she had loved Spencer, and didn't think she ever would, thus the basis of her pressure on Spencer to make the decision to stay with her for college.

It was a little bit of a surprise to her when both of the elder Carlin's engulfed her in a hug and greeted her. Paula had commented on how the girl needed more meat on her bones, and Arthur had told Ashley how they had missed her.

She had never had a real family, aside from Kyla who she adored, but not a large family. After all was said and done she had considered the Carlin's as her family. They had taken her in and included her in everything. She had missed them immensely and couldn't help the big smile that proceeded to take home on her face that evening.

Dinner had gone over well. There was only a couple of slightly awkward moments as the older Carlin's had asked about her love life, she had quietly told them that she was currently not dating or looking to date, and even more awkwardly attempted to take the spotlight off of her by directing a question towards Spencer. After that the topic of discussion had been none other than Felisha herself. The girl who was currently not at dinner, yet she had still managed to keep her presence in the Carlin's life.

It had bothered Ashley a little, if she was being honest. She had started to feel herself being wanted; she had wanted to be in the Carlin's life like Felisha was. She had wondered if they still thought of her, and on the off chance that they had, she wondered if they had thought good things of her.

She had never been one to worry about what others thought of her, it just wasn't her style, but as her younger self started to mature into an adult she found herself caring. She had especially cared with the Carlin's, the only family she had ever had, the only family that she had ever really wanted.

Acceptance had never come easily to her. She was either shunned for her sexuality or for her lack of family, both things she could not change. She had done the best she could while growing up. She had to learn everything on her own, and attempt to stay out of the madness that was L.A., unfortunately that didn't go over too well. There were too many parties and too many people who she couldn't remember, and she was slowly on the path to addiction and loneliness.

It had taken one girl to pull her out from it all. One girl who had promised the world to her. One girl who had fought for her until she couldn't fight anymore.

Naivety is a beautiful thing, it really truly is. It's a whimsical emotion, a state of mind that can easily put you wherever you wanted to be. It could tell you that everything was perfect with your life and that at the age of 17 you had everything figured out. It could tell you that your girlfriend had wanted nothing more than to share her life with you and that she would be content holding herself back for you. It had told you that proposing was the best thing you could have done at your age and that you were ready for all of the complications that life had in store for you and your fiancé.

Naivety is a cruel thing, it really truly is. It's a whimsical emotion, a state of mind that can easily take you out of your element and rip all of your dreams away from you. It could be false and lie and pretend to be something that it wasn't. It could rip you away from the one person who had ever meant anything to you. It could deceive you and make you believe that you were wanted. It could make you selfish and carefree and it could smack you in the face when you least expect it.

That's what naivety had done to Ashley. She had foolishly believed that at a young age she had found everything she was looking for, that she was ready to settle down and be with somebody for the rest of her life.

Had she realized that she was making one of the most selfish moves in her life by asking Spencer to marry her and give up her dreams to be with her, she would have waited.

Sure, she had been naïve in thinking that Spencer had wanted these things, it would have been a true fairy tale, however Ashley knew that no such thing existed.

So when Spencer had finally pulled the plug on their relationship, she was shocked, sure. That would have been the understatement of the world, but at the same time she expected it. Her naivety had let her down yet again, and showed her just how cruel the fates could really be.

They had showed her that she was just like every other teenager in the world, still trying to find out what life had in store for her. The fates had given her a wakeup call that she had needed for a long time.

The wakeup call that would hopefully lead her back to Spencer.

She had never been one to believe in fate either, but when I came to Spencer Carlin she was sure that Spencer was her fate. She had spent the last two years moping around, realizing that she had screwed everything up, and not doing anything with her life.

Two years had passed, and now it was time to show Spencer what she was made of.

**revissssless?! wow, that looks as lame in print as it sounded in my head.**

**anyway, please review. :)**


	11. Chapter 11

**A/N: Oh boy, I know I know, it's been forever. Who would have known that once I finally got freedom in the form of my own apartment that I would also have less freedom? Currently I'm so freaking broke, and finding a job is ridiculous right now. So for now, I live off of Ramen Noodles and my roommates TVDVD sets, especially The L word. Yay for no food, cable, internet, job, and for occasionally going to my parents to steal these things. **

**Updates aren't going to be regular even though I'm out of school now because of the whole no internet thing, so until I can afford internet I'll only be updating when I visit a place that I can get internet for free.**

**P.S. I made the club up in this chapter; any resemblance to another club is purely coincidental.**

**Disclaimer:** **I don't own anything, quite literally, well I did buy a new bed from IKEA, that was ridiculous to put together and I'm too tall for, oh! And around 40 packages of Ramen Noodles, and my laptop, so I definitely don't own South or any of the musicians or the rights to their music that may be mentioned.**

Two weeks to the day that she had had dinner with the Carlin's, Ashley found herself on the phone with the manager of Tipped. She had been looking for a place to play some of her songs, a place where she felt comfortable enough to play. She had stumbled across Tipped during her sophomore year of high school; she was walking back from a party at some unknown person's house when she walked past a low key building that had decent music coming out of it. She had decided to stay and listen to the band play, there weren't too many people in the establishment and there wasn't a huge main stage, just a small band playing an acoustic set.

Since that day she had been secretly going to Tipped and occasionally she had performed after hours for the cleaning staff, she never had the guts to play in front of more than 3 or 4 people. Her music was everything that she had, it was the way that she dealt with everything in her life, and she hadn't been ready to share her music.

However, after almost two years of not progressing in her music career, Ashley figured it was time to step it up and get back into the game. She had always wanted to pursue a profession in music, but wasn't sure if she was ready.

This would be the final test for her musical talents, now all she had to do was convince Spencer to show up.

'Alright Paul, nine o' clock on Saturday, I'll be there. Thank you so much, I won't let you down!' Ashley said through the phone.

As soon as the phone line went dead Ashley had let out a huge sigh and tried to think of how she could get Spencer to Tipped without telling her why.

It wasn't that it was a huge surprise that Spencer couldn't know, okay, it kind of was. Spencer had never really heard Ashley sing, sure when she was in the car singing to the radio, or when she was joking around, but never her own songs. When they were together she was too young and too self conscious about her work to show it to even her best friend and girlfriend.

This time around Ashley wanted to share her work with Spencer, she wanted Spencer's approval, but most of all she wanted to show Spencer that she had changed. She had a craving for this girl, she was sure that it would be the death of her.

As she paced around her room in her Kung Foo Panda boxers and spaghetti strap tank top, she began to think about how she could possible get Spencer to meet her at Tipped on Saturday.

Sure, they were friends, but they weren't the kind of friends that just hung out outside of family stuff. Not yet anyways. She had to be careful about this. There were more than a couple factors that could prevent this whole plan from going well. One, Spencer was still with Felisha, although Ashley was sure that their relationship was having problems and if she was being honest with herself, it made her smile a little, okay, a lot. Two, she wanted Spencer, oh boy she wanted Spencer, and in the worst way possible, which tended to give her foot-in-mouth syndrome whenever the blond was around. Three, Spencer's heart was broken by her, which meant that it was especially guarded, and Spencer was not going to make this easy. Four, Kyla had threatened to dismantle her if she had screwed up her last chance with Spencer.

It was particularly the last one that had scared Ashley the most, Kyla was a beast and was capable of more than it looked.

The thought of her being torn into pieces by Kyla was motivation enough to get it right the first time with Spencer, she supposed it also helped that she was completely infatuated with the younger Carlin.

It had been two hours since her conversation with Paul and she had yet to come up with a plan. She decided to do it the old fashion way, and just ask Spencer to go.

As she dialed Spencer's number she took a deep breath and let it out. It rang a couple times before she heard shuffling and a muffled hello.

'Uh, hi, it's Ashley.' She spoke unsurely.

'Oh hey Ashley. Ouch! Shit!' Spencer cursed loudly into the phone.

'Are you okay? Did I call at a bad time? Cause I can call back later.' Ashley rushed out. Spencer hardly cursed, and when she did it usually meant that something was going on.

'Uh, no, now is fine. I just stepped on a stupid dog toy.' Spencer growled over the line.

'A dog toy? You have a dog?' She asked perplexed. Spencer was so not a dog person.

'Yeah, Felisha's stupid poodle. Felisha always leaves its toys around everywhere, it's like she has no hands to clean up her messes.' Spencer said frustrated.

'You never were one for dogs, although I remember that time you convinced me to adopt that puppy junior year, what a disaster.' Ashley laughed.

'I felt bad, it had no home, how was I to know it was going to chew your moms Louis Vuitton purse?' Spencer replied.

'Eh, Christine deserved it, but what that puppy didn't deserve was your sad attempt at playing fetch with it.' Ashley poked more fun at Spencer.

'Whatever, there was something wrong with that tennis ball, I throw perfectly fine.' Spencer pouted.

'I'm sure there was Spencer, it's those damn tennis ball ferries again, injecting weights onto one side of the tennis ball that way it throws lopsided and to the left instead of straight.'

'Shut up you jerk! It's not like you did any better than I did, if I remember correctly there was more than one window broken that day by you.' Spencer laughed.

'Hey, I never claimed to be good at throwing tennis balls or taking care of small animals. I can barely take care of myself.' Ashley defended herself.

'This is true.' Spencer laughed.

'Hey! Aren't you supposed to say, _you've turned out fine so far, so you must be doing something rig_ht, or some encouraging crap like that?' Ashley asked offended.

'Why lie to you?' Spencer teased.

'Wow, what a jerk. See, this is why my ego is so low.' Ashley said sadly.

'I'm sure it's just fine. So, what's up?' Spencer got right to the point.

'Oh right, well I was wondering what you were doing on Saturday night?' Ashley asked nervously.

'Uh, I don't think I have anything planned, why?' Spencer asked.

'I was wondering if you wanted to meet me at this cool hangout I know about in West Hollywood? They play good music and it's not too crowded; a nice place to catch up.'

'Um, sure, what time?' Spencer asked.

'Around 8:45?' Ashley threw out cautiously. She hadn't wanted Spencer to show up too early and have to wait for Ashley to go on, but she hadn't wanted her to be too late to miss the beginning of her set.

'Yeah, that sounds good to me, what's the place called? I'll get the directions online.' Spencer said.

'Oh, right, it's called Tipped. It's in West Hollywood, not too far away from my place.' Ashley stated.

'Okay then, Saturday night around 8:45. I guess I'll see you then.' Spencer said.

'Yeah, you definitely will. Oh, and thank you Spencer, it means a lot.' Ashley added quietly.

'No problem. Goodnight Ash.'

'Goodnight Spence.'

After hanging up Ashley did a happy dance.

Saturday night could not come fast enough.


	12. Chapter 12

**A/N: So, I figured I'd give you a couple chapters because I didn't update the last chapter when I had intended to. I was going to post it Monday night, but on my way home my best friend and I got into a huge car accident a block away from our house. Needless to say we spent the next six hours dealing with the idiot that t-boned us on my side of the car and who was driving without a license, and getting checked out at the emergency room. I would have written more to this chapter except that I'm on pain killers from the accident, so if there is spelling errors or something doesn't make sense, let me know and I'll go back and fix it.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own South of Nowhere, Sick of Sarah, or Sia.**

So maybe Ashley could have waited for Saturday because it was currently Saturday at 8:30 PM and she was sitting by herself at Tipped feeling like she was going to lose her dinner that she had eaten before arriving.

The week had gone by fast, what with practicing, writing, and helping out Kyla with the baby. Now as the day was slowly coming to an end for most, it was just beginning for her.

She had talked to Spencer once since she had invited her to Tipped, she was on her way into Kyla's house as Spencer was on her way out and they had briefly discussed the plans to meet at Tipped again and then said their pleasant goodbyes.

To say that it was awkward would be an understatement, sure she was comfortable around Spencer, she always had been. However, Felisha was with Spencer that day and had made Ashley unbearably squirmy on the front porch of Kyla's L.A. home.

She had spent the rest of the week panicking and attempting to talk herself into actually performing on Saturday night. Seeing Spencer and Felisha had psyched her out more than a little. She was under the impression that the two were having problems, hence her strategy to move in on Spencer and show her how she had changed, but when she saw them at Kyla's they had seemed to be better off than she had ever seen them. Granted, she had only seen the couple together a handful of times, but this time there was no animosity in the area and it saddened Ashley slightly.

She had never been one to linger on things she couldn't change, but this was Spencer, and she wasn't about to give up her one chance she had to make things right, to make Spencer see who she truly belonged to.

So there she sat in the back room at Tipped pacing back and forth trying to calm herself down. The fact that the room was a little more than slightly dirty had bothered Ashley, when she was nervous she became an OCD cleaner, it was a little secret she had managed to keep to herself all of these years. If there was something to clean with in the room she was sure it would have been spotless by the time she went on stage.

She wouldn't know if Spencer showed up until she stepped on the stage at 9, so she hoped that Spencer wouldn't get restless and just leave waiting for those fifteen minutes.

She had everything that she needed: her guitar, the piano was on stage, and her lyrics in her bag. She had them all memorized, but always took her notebook with her everywhere; you never know when somebody is going to want to join in on the song.

She hadn't realized how fast the minutes had gone by, the next thing she knew she was drawn out of her thought process by the sound of somebody introducing her.

She tentatively walked out on stage and looked around before sitting down at the stool in front of the microphone. She hadn't realized just how many people there was in the club earlier when she had arrived, she was sure it was the same amount and that her perspective had just changed when she was finally the one on stage and not in the audience.

She scanned the room for Spencer, but couldn't find her, so she decided to introduce herself and talk to the crowd before starting her set.

'Hey everyone, I'm Ashley Davies.' She said as she waved to the crowd. 'I currently reside in L.A. and I figured that I'd give this music thing a try. So, I'm gonna sing a couple of covers and then a couple of my own songs. Be nice, it's been a while since I've played.' Ashley laughed slightly as she started playing the intro to her first song.

'Oh, and this song is called Autograph by the band Sick of Sarah. I thought we'd start off the night with a fun song.' She smiled as she started to sing.

_You had a heart of gold_

_You had a heart of stone_

_I had a heart attack_

_I pulled you in,_

_You pushed me back._

_You're not so innocent_

_You're just a hypocrite_

_Now turn me on and let me loose_

_And blow me off_

_What's your excuse?_

_And I'm not messing around I want your autograph_

_I wanna touch you, yeah_

_And I'm not messing around_

_Messing around_

Just as she had finished the chorus she saw Spencer walk in and take a table in the center. Spencer just stared at Ashley with a big questioning smile on her face, which made Ashley smile as she started the next line. As she began singing them she locked eyes with Spencer, giving her a flirty look.

_Your bones are pliable_

_So undeniable_

_Cannot commit to words_

_Cause words are indescribable_

_And if I had my way,_

_I'd eat you everyday_

_Now come a little closer_

_Listen to the words I've got to say_

_And I'm not messing around I want your autograph_

_I wanna touch you, yeah_

_And I'm not messing around_

_Messing around_

_I want your autograph_

_And you'll just screw with my soul_

_Your words they twist and pull_

_I need to learn to swallow them whole_

_I'll swallow them whole_

_I want your autograph_

_Autograph_

_Can't quite sleep in the middle of the night_

_You're touching yourself_

_Oooh woooaaaohhh ooh_

_And if you could see everything that I see_

_Ooohh woooahh ohh_

_And I can't quite take this_

_I can't quite break this_

_Oooh wooah ohhh_

_And you can't quite take this_

_You can't quite break this_

_Oooooh oooh woooahhh_

_And I'm not messing around,_

_I want your autograph_

_I wanna touch and fuck you_

_Well yeah yeah yeah_

_Not messing around_

_I want your autograph_

_Well you'll just screw with my soul_

_Your words, they twist and pull_

_I need to learn to swallow you whole_

_I'll swallow you whole_

_I want your autograph_

Spencer smiled widely and blushed a little upon hearing the words to the song. To say she had been surprised to see Ashley on stage would have been the understatement of the year. She had never seen Ashley sing when they had dated, okay in the car, but that doesn't count, and she had especially never seen Ashley sing in front of a large group of people.

She had thought that Ashley had just wanted to meet and hang out tonight, which is why she had been running slightly late from the office.

Ashley had a way of captivating the crowd with her beautiful voice. Spencer had always wondered why Ashley had never gone to open mic nights when they were younger; she knew that Ashley was musical, that much was obvious from the drum set, piano, and guitars in her room.

She had once asked Ashley why she didn't perform, but Ashley had shrugged her off and changed the subject quickly.

Ashley had played a couple more songs before she had announced to the crowd that she would be taking a five minute break.

Ashley walked over to Spencer with a wide smile on her face as Spencer stood up meeting her for a hug before the two sat down.

'So, what'd you think?' Ashley asked shyly. She had never done this before, and considering that the only reason she was doing this was for Spencer, she figured that she should know what Spencer thought.

'You were amazing! Why didn't you tell me that you were singing tonight? I would have gotten here earlier and made sure that I didn't miss any of it!' Spencer said.

'I wanted it to be a surprise. I don't do this often, well ever, and I wanted to share it with you tonight.' Ashley said quietly as she looked up from her hands to Spencer's face to gauge her reaction.

'Well thank you for that, it means a lot. Why didn't you invite Kyla and Glen? I'm sure that my parents would have watched Remy for them.' Spencer asked curiously.

'Well, I wanted to share it with you. I'm not sure I'm ready for the whole family to see me up here, I'm self conscious about my music as it is.' Ashley explained.

'I don't know why, you sound perfect to me.' Spencer smiled at Ashley.

'You have to say that, it's an obligation as my friend.' Ashley laughed.

'I don't have to say anything I don't want to. I mean it Ash, you're amazing.' Spencer looked into Ashley's eyes.

Ashley blushed and ducked her head, 'Yeah, well me and my amazing voice better get on stage before people start getting angry.'

'I'll be watching.' Spencer smiled.

'Alright people, I'm back with a couple more songs, so you only have to put up with me for a little while longer.' Ashley made the audience laugh.

Ashley sang three more songs before announcing her last song. As she took a seat at the piano that was facing the crowd she began to speak.

'Okay, so this is my last song. I thought I'd leave off with an original song. I wrote this a while back, it was my first stab at writing a song that went along with the piano. I wrote it for somebody who, to this day, is the most important person in my life.' Ashley said as she looked at Spencer.

The piano began and the lights dimmed slightly, putting a soft spotlight on Ashley as she began to sing.

_Help I have done it again_

_I have been here many times before_

_Hurt myself again today_

_And the worst part is there's no one else to blame_

_Be my friend, hold me_

_Wrap me up, unfold me_

_I am small and needy_

_Warm me up and breathe me_

Ashley had written this song just after Spencer had given her the ring back, she had known all along that she was pushing Spencer too much, that what she was asking was too much at such a young age, but her stubborn ways wouldn't let her apologize to Spencer and get her back.

She had written this song in hopes of giving it to Spencer, a song that would say everything she was feeling, she never gave it to Spencer. Not until tonight.

Ashley had begun to get into the song closing her eyes as she started to sing the next verse, her emotions starting to get the better of her.

_Ouch I have lost myself again_

_Lost myself and I am nowhere to be found_

_Yeah I think that I might break_

_Lost myself again and I feel unsafe_

_Be my friend, hold me_

_Wrap me up, unfold me_

_I am small and needy_

_Warm me up and breathe me_

At the last repetition of the chorus Ashley had opened her eyes in search of Spencer; she had wanted Spencer to know, to feel, every emotion going through her as she sang.

When she found Spencer her heart had nearly crushed at the sight. Sitting right next to Spencer with her arm around her shoulder was none other than Felisha.

_Be my friend, hold me_

_Wrap me up, unfold me_

_I am small and needy_

_Warm me up and breathe me_

Ashley finished the last of the song on the piano before saying goodnight and rushing off stage.

It had been decided, Ashley could have definitely waited for Saturday.

**The first song that Ashley sings is 'Autograph' by Sick of Sarah, in case you didn't catch that. And the song that Ashley sings at the end is 'Breathe Me' by Sia, if you haven't heard those songs you should definitely check them out. And I tried my best with the lyrics, so if there are errors, I'm sorry.**

**Reviews??? They would make me feel better.**


	13. Chapter 13

**Thought I'd get another chapter out while I have the chance. Idk if this is any good, but it's a chapter none the less. Goes to show that not all Spashley encounters are perfect, that they still have their problems.**

**I got a lot of feedback about the whole Spencer/Felisha thing and I just want to say that I don't believe in cheating, no matter the circumstances, and as much as I wanted to write that Spashley got back together in that last chapter, where would that leave Felisha? She's a twist in the story that makes it a little more dramatic. Plus, she hadn't been in the last couple chapters, I did state that Spencer and her were having problems, but just because they are doesn't mean that Spencer should cheat with Ashley, plus it's not a really great way to start of their new relationship with each other. Spashley rules, no worries, good will prevail. I wouldn't write a South story that was not pro Spashley.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own South, and I made up Tipped, so if there is any coincidence there I don't own it either. I do however currently own my laptop, my sweet new bed and bed set, my new apartment, and the rogue pop tarts that are currently sitting in front of my face.**

Ashley had been sitting in the back room of Tipped for the past thirty minutes. She hadn't moved from the seat that she had collapsed in, she hadn't even tried to.

Felisha had shown up. Felisha had shown up with Spencer. Felisha had shown up with Spencer and had her arm around her.

When she had asked Spencer to come hang out, not once was Felisha's name mentioned. She was more than a bit confused. Usually when one asks somebody to hang out it's common courtesy to let the other person know if somebody else is going.

She was brought out of her thought process by somebody knocking on the door. She didn't have to hear her voice to know that it was Spencer.

'Hey, I've been waiting for you to come back out. Is everything okay? You just kind of rushed off stage.' Spencer asked as she closed the door quietly.

'Uh, yeah, I'm fine. I was just thinking. I'll be out in a minute. I just need to clear my head.' Ashley said distractedly. She didn't want to talk to Spencer right now, the last thing she needed was to have word vomit and say things that she so desperately had been trying to keep in.

'You're lying, you think I don't know you, but I do.' Spencer said as she took a seat next to Ashley.

'I'm not lying. Spencer, look, I'm not really in the mood for this right now.' Ashley said as she rubbed her temples.

'Not in the mood for what? You asked me to come here and hang out and all of the sudden your mood has changed and now you don't want to hang out.'

'That's exactly it Spencer! I asked YOU to come and hang out. YOU and YOU alone, it wasn't an open invitation for anybody to come!' Ashley said, frustrated with the woman in front of her.

'So this is about Felisha?' Spencer asked, confused.

'It always seems to be Spencer. You know how important my music is to me, I told you not even two minutes before I went back onstage that I wanted to share it with you, not anybody else.' Ashley said as she stood up out of her chair and walked over to her bag.

'What was I supposed to do? She asked if she could come, I didn't think it was a big deal. I didn't know that you were going to be performing tonight, you didn't tell me. I wouldn't have said it was okay for her to come if I had known that you didn't want her here.' Spencer explained.

'Why would I want her around us when we hang out Spencer? Don't you think that it hurts me to see that?' Ashley said as she frantically started shoving her things into her bag.

'What is that supposed to mean?' Spencer asked.

'Nothing, it means nothing, just forget I said anything.' Ashley said dejectedly as she pulled her bag over her shoulder and began walking to the door.

Spencer grabbed her arm before she could open the door and stopped her.

'No Ashley, this isn't how it's going to work. You don't get to just run away from your problems again. I thought you had changed, but here you are running from them again, running from me.' Spencer yelled.

'What do you want me to say Spencer? You wanna hear the truth? Fine, I'll tell you the truth. I asked you here tonight to listen to my music, to share something special with you. I want you, I always have, I've always loved you Spencer, and I've never stopped. You seem to forget that it was me who was ready to give my whole being to you. That doesn't just disappear, love like that doesn't disappear Spencer. Do you not see that it hurts me every time I see you with her? Don't you see my heart has been breaking ever since we broke it off?'

Spencer stood in the dressing room, her hand still gripping Ashley's arm, not knowing what to say.

'Ash, I, god I don't even know what to say.'

'You're like this fucking virus! You're in my head all of the time, you're in my head and you're in my heart and you're fucking eating away at me until I'm nothing! I need you, I'm addicted to you, but you don't seem to notice it.' Ashley exploded, yanking her arm out of Spencer's grasp.

'You think I don't feel this either?! You think I just stopped having feelings for you the minute you stepped out of my house?! Ashley, it's not that easy, I've tried to move on. You know I have, but you're always that false sense of hope in the back of my head. I waited for you for two years now, and now that I have somebody and am trying to move on with my life you come back and expect everything to be fixed? That's not how it works Ashley, you can't just come into my life and shake it up and then expect to leave like it was absolutely nothing.' Spencer yelled back at Ashley.

'Who said I was going to leave? There you go, being Spencer, assuming that I'm not adult enough to stick it out. I was willing to stick it out two years ago when you were ready to run!' Ashley shouted.

'Would you stop throwing that in my face?! I was trying to figure myself out. I didn't know who I was without you. You were ready to stick it out so much that when I asked you to, you decided that it was too much distance and that it was all or nothing. That sure sounds like sticking it out to me Ashley. What it really is is a coward move. You were insecure in our relationship. I trusted you a hundred percent in our relationship, but you couldn't trust me at all when you had no right to distrust me!'

'You were asking me to let you move across the fucking country for Christ sakes Spencer! You were asking me to let you move across the country for four years, without me, and live your own life. That sounds like a cop out of our relationship if you ask me. If you didn't want to marry me, all you had to do was say no. Instead you played with my emotions, letting me think that you actually wanted a future with me, and when I finally start planning our future you back out. Who the fuck does that Spencer?!'

'Somebody who has to figure themselves out before they can truly be with the one they love. I loved you Ashley, I really did, but in order for me to be with you I had to figure out who I was without you. You were always the confident one, you knew what you were going to do with your life, you had it all mapped out, and if your plans fell through you always had something to fall back on. I didn't Ashley; I had nothing to fall back onto.' Spencer screamed.

'Bullshit! You knew I would have taken care of you Spencer! There was never a question about that!' Ashley defended.

'Exactly! I didn't want you to have to take care of me. I wanted to find myself, to do something with my life, find my career and have a life, a life with you in it, but you couldn't understand that. You were too damn stubborn; you still are too fucking stubborn. I wanted to marry you so badly, but I wanted to make sure that I knew who I was before I did. I've never been the overly confident girl, like you. I had to figure things out for myself, you know that. You just couldn't deal with me having a life outside of you!' Spencer yelled more.

'You got what you fucking wanted, a life outside of me! Tell me Spencer, how's it been? How've these last couple years been, pretending that everything is just fucking peachy with Felisha, when you and I both know who you are supposed to be with? Does she know Spence? Ha, does she know that she'll never have your heart the way that I do?' Ashley asked aggressively as she moved towards Spencer.

'You don't know what you're talking about.' Spencer said as she felt her back hit the door of Ashley's dressing room.

'Oh I don't? I'm not naïve Spencer; I know that I have your heart, just like you have mine. I know who I belong to, and I'm done denying it.' Ashley said.

'What makes you think you're so right? I'm with Felisha now, and have been for a while. What makes you think that she doesn't have my heart?' Spencer asked.

Ashley moved to grab Spencer's hand and placed it on her chest as she placed her own on Spencer's.

'Because Spence, nobody makes my heart beat like this. Nobody has ever made me feel like an idiotic four year who can't put intelligent sentences together. Nobody has ever made my heart jump like this. Nobody has ever made my heart ache like you do. Not one single person Spence, you're it for me. And from the rhythm of your heart, I know that I'm it for you too.' Ashley said quietly as she stared into Spencer's eyes.

'Ashley…' Spencer trailed off.

'Spencer, just tell me to leave, tell me that I'm wrong. Tell me that everything I'm feeling is felt by me and me alone, tell me that you aren't still in love with me and I'll leave you alone. I'll go back to being out of the picture so you can live your life without me and move on.' Ashley challenged.

'Don't ask me to do that. That's not fair.' Spencer pleaded.

'Tell me Spencer, tell me that Felisha is all that you've ever wanted. Tell me that she makes your heart beat out of your chest. Tell me that you can see a future with her with little blue eyed, blond haired kids running around. Tell me you're in love with her and I'm gone.'

'I-I'm in love with her.' Spencer said with tears running down her check.

Ashley let Spencer go and stepped back to let her move around her. She heard the door open and close and she knew that Spencer had left.

She had been standing in the same spot, she wasn't sure how long, but she finally moved to the small mirror/desk to grab her bag. When she reached it she stared at herself in the mirror.

What had she become? Ashley Davies had gone from a crazy promiscuous teenager, to a teenager in love, to a young woman with a fiancée and a future, to a young woman with nothing left in her life, to a young woman starting to get back on track, to a young woman who put her heart on the line for the person she loved, to a young woman crushed.

She took one last look in the mirror before she swung her fist and smashed it into the mirror.

As the glass fell to the floor, Ashley grabbed her bag and walked out of Tipped and off into the dark L.A. night.

This time, without her heart.

**Review?? I know, it was drammmmmma. Lol. But let me know, and no worries, this fic is pro Spashley, is there any other way to do it?**


	14. Chapter 14

**I've been doing a lot of writing, so here's another. I believe this is two in one day, which is nice for me, because I literally have nothing to do anymore. Lol. And I had a really bad writers block for a while. Anyways, here you go. =]**

**This one doesn't seem good to me, but feedback on what you guys would like to see in the story would be great. It definitely helps a lot! :)**

**Disclaimer: wait, wait, uh let me check. Nope! I still don't own South, I also don't own Oregon, although I love it. I do, however, own my laptop, my dinosaur Pierpont, all of my books, my phone, my apartment, and [drum roll please!] the grapes I am currently about to eat.**

It had been three weeks, four days, and 6 hours since Spencer had crushed Ashley's heart for the second time, not that she was counting or anything.

She had been spending the past three weeks attempting to busy herself with anything and everything to keep her mind off of that night.

Of course when she went to sleep, it really didn't matter. Her dreams were so repetitive it was ridiculous. They would start the same way, she'd confront Spencer just like she had that night and then Dream Spencer would start to give in, and just as they were about to kiss, Ashley would wake up.

Going about her 'normal' life was starting to become extremely hard for Ashley. She had still talked to Kyla on a regular basis and helped them out with Remy, but she had insisted that when watching Remy she was at her own place.

She wanted no chance of running into Spencer. She had promised her that she'd stay out of her life if she had confessed her love for Felisha, so that was what she was currently doing.

'Come on Ashley, I know something happened between you two. Why won't you just tell me?' Kyla begged.

'It's really not that big of a deal Kyla.' Ashley shrugged it off as she sat down on the couch with Remy in her hands.

'If it's not that big of a deal then why do you refuse to even go to my house anymore? You obviously don't want to run into her or else you'd have no problem coming over like you used to.' Kyla pushed.

'I don't want to talk about it Kyla.' Ashley said, irritated at her younger sister.

'Why not? Ashley come on, just tell me!' Kyla begged more.

'Fine! You wanna know what happened? I told Spencer how I feel, that I'm still in love with her, that she's the one for me, that nobody else will have my heart like her, and she told me that she is in love with Felisha. Is that what you wanted to hear?!' Ashley said angrily as she passed Remy over to her sister.

'Ash, come on, you know I didn't mean it that way.' Kyla said quietly.

'You couldn't just leave it alone, could you? I told you I didn't want to talk about it. Do you think it's easy for me to talk about it Kyla?' Ashley asked with tears streaming down her face.

Kyla put Remy into her bouncer and walked over to the couch that Ashley had sunken into less than a minute ago, and wrapped her arms around her older sister.

'I'm sorry Ashley, I really am.' Kyla said soothingly.

'Why are you sorry? You didn't do anything.' Ashley said as she wiped the tears from her eyes.

'I'm sorry because everybody knows that you two are meant to be together and Spencer has yet to realize that.' Kyla explained.

'I don't think it's about realizing Ky, I think Spencer knows what she wants and that's Felisha. I told her that I would leave her alone if she denied her feelings for me and told me she was in love with Felisha, she did and now I'm doing my best to stay out of the way.' Ashley said.

'That doesn't mean that you have to alienate yourself from your family Ash. You're always welcome at our house, you know that.' Kyla reasoned.

'Yeah, well at your house there is Glen and Remy, and that leads Spencer to your house, and I'm just not ready for that.' Ashley explained.

'Well, when you are, the door is always opened.' Kyla smiled at Ashley.

'Thank you Ky.' Ashley smiled back.

'So did you want to go grab lunch like we had originally planned?' Kyla asked.

'Yeah, I'm starving and I still have to talk to you.' Ashley said as she pulled on her shoes and stood up to grab Remy.

'Yeah, I forgot about that. What is it that was so important that I had to drag me and Remy over here?' Kyla teased Ashley.

'Oh please, you know that you couldn't stay away from me and my so called 'gossip'. I'll tell you when we get to lunch. I'm not picking, nose goes!' Ashley said as she touched her index finger to her nose.

'That's cheating! You didn't even give me a warning!' Kyla whined.

'A warning? That's not how you play nose goes and you know it, there is no warning, it's always in effect.' Ashley laughed at her silly sister.

'But you know I hate picking! Can't you just pick, please?' Kyla started pouting.

'Sorry, rules of the game, it's your pick.' Ashley said as she picked Remy up and started walking towards the front door.

'Gah! You always pull that crap! I hate nose goes!' Kyla said frustrated.

'You only hate it because you suck at it!' Ashley stuck her tongue out at Kyla.

'Yeah yeah, let's get going before the little one gets cranky.' Kyla said as she walked towards her car.

'Remy never gets cranky around me, I'm her favorite.' Ashley teased.

'You sure are cocky. I am her mother; I think that automatically makes me her favorite.'

'I don't know about that. I'm pretty sure I'm the only one she would go to sleep for those first couple of weeks and I was the first person she smiled at. I think that qualifies me as the favorite.' Ashley sung out.

'Get in the car you idiot.' Kyla laughed.

'This thing is a beast Kyla! Why do you need such a huge car for just you and Remy?' Ashley asked.

'It's the safest thing on the road, plus it's hot as hell!' Kyla gushed excitedly about her SUV.

'It's the safest on the road because everybody is afraid of it.' Ashley scoffed.

'Says the girl who doesn't even have a car.' Kyla said as she started the car.

'I don't need a car, it's called the bus.' Ashley explained.

'You know a couple years ago those words would have never come out of your mouth.' Kyla said in amazement.

'Oh how much can change in the span of three years.' Ashley said.

'You got that right.' Kyla laughed.

'Maybe when I'm in a less busy place, where the traffic isn't so crazy or I actually have a crazy social life and a need for a car, I'll buy one.' Ashley said.

'Your social life _**is**_ lacking.' Kyla poked fun at Ashley.

'That's because people annoy me.' Ashley narrowed her eyes at Kyla.

'Okay okay, I'm just saying, it wouldn't hurt to get out there a little bit. Have some fun.' Kyla said.

'Okay mom, I'll go make some friends.' Ashley said as they pulled up at Olive Garden.

'I've been craving these breadsticks forever! Glen won't take me here anymore because of what happened last time.' Kyla said sheepishly.

'Well I don't blame him; you did nearly break that guys nose just because he forgot the extra breadsticks with your salad.' Ashley laughed.

'It was my hormones! I swear, I totally apologized to the guy and gave him a huge tip.' Kyla defended herself.

'Whatever you say darling.' Ashley laughed as she walked with Remy in her hands to the restaurant opening.

The girls had waited for the waiter to seat them and ordered drinks for themselves when Kyla started talking.

'So, what is this big news, I mean we're in the restaurant, so there's no reason to wait now.' Kyla asked eagerly.

'You are too much sometimes.' Ashley laughed.

'Ashley! Come on! Just tell me already!' Kyla begged.

'Alright, I'll tell you, but I don't know how you're going to feel about it.' Ashley explained.

'Just tell me, then you'll know how I feel.' Kyla rushed.

'I'm going to Oregon.' Ashley said as she grabbed her glass and took a sip out of it.

'Oregon? As in we wear overalls, hug trees, and rarely shower, Oregon?' Kyla asked shocked.

'Wow, that's a good showcase of stereotyping Kyla.' Ashley said as she grabbed a crayon from the table and started coloring on Remy's menu.

She never understood why they gave babies their own menus when clearly they weren't old enough to hold the crayons that came with them, let alone read the menu themselves.

'Well, I don't know, that's just what I've heard. Why Oregon?' Kyla asked confused.

'It's away from L.A., but not too far away that if something happened I wouldn't be able to get home right away.' Ashley explained.

'What are you going to do there?' Kyla asked, still confused.

'Just take some time off. I need to get away from L.A., away from all of this crap, and clear my head. Dad took me there once when I was little, he had this beautiful house right on the beach in Lincoln City, and I fell in love with it. It's the perfect place to go.' Ashley said.

'How long?' Kyla started to get upset.

'Not too long, three months, maybe four. I just need some time on my own right now.' Ashley looked over at Kyla.

'That's a long time Ashley.' Kyla said.

'It really isn't. I'll be back before you know it.' Ashley conceded, attempting to make Kyla feel better.

'What about Remy? You love her, she's gonna miss you so much.' Kyla said.

'It's not that long Kyla, I promise, I'm coming back. Just think of it as an extended vacation.'

'I guess, but you swear you're coming back?' Kyla asked slightly worried

'I swear.' Ashley said as she looked at Kyla.

'Cross your heart?' Kyla asked.

Ashley smiled, Kyla still was her little sister, and she often showed it.

'Cross my heart.' Ashley said as she crossed her heart with her index finger.

'Okay, but you're only allowed to go if I know all of your information. I want an address and phone number and flight numbers and-' Kyla was interrupted by Ashley.

'You'll have all of my information Kyla. It'll be fine.' Ashley said as she grabbed Kyla's hand and squeezed it.

'I know, it's just that we just started getting back to normal, ya know? And now you're going to leave again. I just don't want you to run like last time.' Kyla said, worried.

'I'm not running. I have nothing to run from, okay? I want to come back to you and Remy, you're my family and I'm not missing out on that again.'

'I believe you. So, when do you leave?' Kyla asked.

'Tomorrow night.' Ashley said as she looked away from Kyla.

'So you've known for a while?' Kyla asked.

'Well, I booked the flight a couple weeks ago, but I just decided for sure that I am going last night.' Ashley said.

'Okay, what time is your flight? I'll take you to the airport.' Kyla said.

Ashley smiled at Kyla, 'Thank you. It's at 6 tomorrow night.'

'Look out Oregon, here comes Ashley Davies.' Kyla sighed out.

**Reviews are my favorite!! Oh, and I was going to pick Detroit, Oregon because it is my favorite place in Oregon (well other than the coast), but it's a little too secluded, there literally is nothing to do there, but be all out doorsy, and I don't really see Ashley being like that. Lincoln City is more of a city, there's at least a couple things to do, without being all big and metropolitan, although it is really touristy, but oh well. Anyways, Review please?!**


	15. Chapter 15

**Sorrrrrrry for the way long delay guys. I'd like to say that it was just me being lazy, but unfortunately it wasn't.**

**At first it was just life getting in the way, what with a full time and part time job and figuring things out for school. Once I finally got back in the swing of things I found out that my best friend died in Iraq.**

**So, needless to say, it's been more than slightly shitty lately.**

**But you all can thank goshNyikes for this one since she (I'm assuming it's a girl. Lol.) was the one to kick my ass into shape. Thank you! And I'll have another one up shortly.**

**Sorry this one is so short. I wrote it a while back and intended on making it longer, but things happened. I don't really like it, well not the end, but here it is.**

Oregon had been exactly what Ashley expected it to be, cold, beautiful, and far enough away from L.A. that she could clear her head.

She had been in the state for a mere three weeks and was already falling in love with it. The only resemblance that it bared to L.A. was the beach and even that wasn't a close resemblance.

Kyla had called every night since she had arrived and every night she would ask the same question.

_When are you coming home? We miss you!_

It was hard to resist the younger girl and not just hop on a plane back to L.A., then again, the thought of Spencer's face when Ashley admitted her feelings for her made Ashley resist that exact urge and stay in Oregon.

Her last night in California had been a weird one for her. She had spent the day with Kyla, talking her younger sister into the idea of her going to Oregon for a couple of months and returning. Kyla had taken it okay, yet Ashley new deep down that Kyla was disappointed in Ashley for leaving when things got hard. However, Ashley didn't see it that way, things were always complicated between her and Spencer, she ran years ago, when she was scared, but this time instead of running she confronted her fears and bit the bullet. Unfortunately for her, that backfired and things with Spencer fizzled.

Now, as she sat in the small coffee shop that overlooked the beach, she started to think of her last night in California.

_She had spent the rest of the evening with Kyla and Remy, to her surprise, Glen even showed up to eat dinner with them._

_The three adults had been conversing for some time before the topic of Spencer was brought up. Glen was talking about a family barbeque that the Carlins were having that upcoming weekend and had invited Ashley. He had said that Ashley should go, especially since Spencer would be there. After that the conversation in the room had died before Kyla had announced that she needed to feed Remy before she went to sleep._

_Of course, Glen knew what had happened between Ashley and Spencer, he always had been the one that Spencer went to. He had pulled Ashley aside, while Kyla was attempting to feed Remy, and told her not to give up on Spencer. He had told her that they were supposed to be together, he had known that fact since high school, and that Spencer knew it too, that she was just scared._

Ashley had no idea what to make of what Glen had said, even three weeks later. Sure, he was her brother, but Spencer had made it perfectly clear that it was Felisha she wanted, not Ashley.

Quite frankly, she was tired of hearing people tell her not to give up, that she and Spencer were destiny. If they were meant to be together like everybody had said, then they would be. She was tired of fighting her feelings, so she went out on a limb and told Spencer how she felt, and they still weren't together.

It was like the Universe was having its laugh at Ashley by rubbing the Spencer situation in her face.

She had been so deep in contemplation about the whole Spencer ordeal that she didn't realize that somebody was standing in front of her asking if she wanted a refill.

'I'm sorry, I was spacing out.' Ashley smiled at the girl.

'It's okay, I was just wondering if you wanted a latte, I accidentally made the wrong drink and I don't want to just throw it away, you looked like you could use one.' The girl smiled back.

'Yeah, that'd be great, thanks.' Ashley accepted the drink that was in the other girl's hand.

'No problem,' the girl was waiting for Ashley to fill in her name.

'Oh, Ashley, Ashley Davies.' Ashley laughed a little as she shook the girl's hand.

'Oh, like James Bond, nice.' The girl laughed.

'No, not like James Bond, like Ashley Davies.' Ashley teased back.

'Well Ashley Davies, I hope you enjoy the latte.' The girl said as she turned to walk back to the counter.

_Oh I will._ Ashley thought as she watched the girl walk back to the counter, noticing that she put a little sway in her hips.

She had seen the girl at the shop more than a handful of times, considering it was the only coffee shop that Ashley would drink coffee from, everywhere else made their coffee too weak. She needed something to wake her up in the morning, not rock her back to sleep.

Plus, at night the café held live music, which was pretty good, and Ashley enjoyed all of the fresh faces that Oregon had to offer.

She had thought of performing there, for the first time in a long time. She noticed that everybody in Oregon, well for the most part, was extremely welcoming and seemed to thrive for any type of music they could listen to. One night the café could be playing soft jazz, the next night hardcore Screamo bands wearing girl's jeans, to an indie rap group the next night. It was no holds barred, and Ashley loved the thought of not being booed off stage.

_Coffee Shop Girl_ had taken that exact moment to begin clearing off a table to the left of Ashley, which of course snapped Ashley out of her haze. Sure, she was mourning the loss of the love of her life, but she was human after all, and even she couldn't ignore the fact that this girl was attractive, even more so than most.

She had long brown hair with multiple colors in it, from what Ashley could see it looked to be a teal color, dark blue, and purple on the top. It wasn't crazy, just a couple streaks here and there. She was wearing a pair of skinny jeans with checkered Vans, and a band tee, one of which Ashley did not recognize the name of. Her bottom lip pierced twice on the right side and her ears stretched slightly. She had a couple of tattoos, well that Ashley could see, the most prominent being the feather tattooed on the inside of her right wrist.

In Ashley's mind, California girls and Oregon girls vastly differed. Maybe that's why she took sudden interest to _Coffee Shop Girl_. Maybe it was that she was so vastly different from a certain blonde that made Ashley genuinely finding herself walking over to her and making conversation.

She had been talking to _Coffee Shop Girl_ for about ten minutes before her boss had called her over.

'I'm sorry; I should probably get back to work.' _Coffee Shop Girl_ had explained.

'Probably, before you get fired and I start to feel horrible for causing it.' Ashley giggled.

_Coffee Shop Girl_ had smiled as she grabbed a napkin off of the table and grabbed the pen from her ear and began to scribble something down.

'I get off of work in about two hours, there's supposed to be a pretty good show at the bar down the street, if you're interested. I'll be there around nine, call me if you decide it sounds like fun.' _Coffee Shop Girl_ explained as she handed the napkin to Ashley and disappeared behind the counter.

Ashley looked down at the napkin in her hand before a small smile graced her lips and she turned to gather her stuff into her bag.

On her walk home she reread the napkin over and over again.

'_One free pass to hang out with Olivia Daniels. Offer only valid through today. 526-8976'_

Was she ready to do this, to possibly date again? Was it too soon? What would everybody think?

She had never been one to worry about what others thought, but in this instance others had been critical in the equation of her life. She had just started talking to Kyla again and really reconnecting with her and a couple people she hadn't spoken to in years, she didn't want to ruin that progress.

She shook her head to clear her thoughts. Her mind settled on going to the show with Olivia, she walked the rest of the way home with a smile on her face deciding that time away is exactly what she needed. Sure, she'd miss her family, but she needed out of the situation she was in. She needed time to think about her life, without Spencer, and possibly with Spencer as nothing more than an acquaintance.


	16. Chapter 16

**Disclaimer: I own nothing having to do with South of Nowhere. Although, I wish I did. :(**

**So, this chapter skips about 3 months. All will be explained slowly, but surely. At least I hope so.**

You wake up in the morning. You're daily ritual is the same: make coffee, drink coffee, eat breakfast, go for a run, shower, change into your clothes for the morning, do your makeup and hair, go out and explore the town. Maybe a cup of coffee, maybe catch up with the small group of friends you've acquired.

Your days pass in a haze, your life is nothing special. You constantly complain about the mundane things in your life. Why does the store have to be so far away? Why doesn't this restaurant have what I want to eat? Why is there nothing on TV?

You complain, you wonder, you seethe, you loathe.

And then one day, all of your superficial thoughts seize to exist.

It takes that one call.

In the matter of thirty seconds one's life can change. Children are born, people are fired, wrecks are caused, and people die.

In thirty seconds you can decide what you want to eat, what you want to wear, what you want to watch. In thirty seconds you can watch your whole life slip through your fingers and fall to the floor.

Thirty seconds is all it takes to make you realize just how precious life is, can make you realize that nothing in this world is guaranteed.

It takes thirty seconds to make the decision that will define your life for the better or worse.

_Two days earlier_

'_Would you stop running around and sit down?' Olivia had pleaded with her friend._

'_I can't, everything has to be perfect! I haven't seen her in almost four months!' Ashley said frantically as she ran through her house attempting to clean the spotless home._

'_Ashley, sit, now! You're house is spotless and if you try to dust anymore you'll just ware a hole in your furniture.' Olivia laughed._

'_Haha, aren't you just so funny?' Ashley pouted as she sat down on the couch next to Olivia._

'_I like to think I am, yes.' Olivia said, giving one of her patented crooked smiles._

'_You're also full of yourself Miss Daniels.' Ashley said as she threw the dirty rag towards the other girl._

'_Eww! Who knows what's on this thing?!' Olivia started to panick._

'_Chillax, you yourself just said that the house was spotless, therefore nothing is on the rag.' Ashley said. 'You're so dramatic sometimes; I'm not quite sure why I keep you around.'_

'_Puuuuuhlease! You love me. We both know the only reason you keep me around is because you secretly want me.' Olivia said as she wiggled her eyebrows._

'_As I recall, it was you who wanted me. And if I remember correctly, that whole situation didn't work out too well.' Ashley laughed._

'_Yeah, well, it's not our fault that I'm too hot for you.' Olivia defended herself._

'_You know, you are so right, I've been meaning to tell you for a while know. I just can't live without you, you're the hottest girl I've ever seen and sometimes when you're cleaning the tables off at the coffee shop, I just wanna take you right there, in front of all of those people.' Ashley deadpanned._

_Olivia just snorted while smacking the other girl on the arm._

_It was true; the two girls had tried dating. After the first meeting Ashley had given Olivia a call and set up a date._

_To say it was a disaster would be giving the date too much credit._

_It was horrid. Both girls ended up getting completely hammered to take the awkwardness of the situation away, only to make an even more awkward situation at the end of the night._

_They had been completely wasted and managed to stumble back to Ashley's house and up to her bedroom. Things had started to take a serious turn, and in Ashley's drunken blur she realized that things had to stop. Right at that moment she turned back to Olivia, only to notice the smaller girl passed out on Ashley's bed._

_That night had defined their friendship, and since that moment the girls had been inseparable. Ashley had never met another person like her in all her years. Olivia was unlike any friend she had ever had. She always kept Ashley on her feet and as happy as possible._

'_Anyways, what does it matter to you how clean my house is?' Ashley asked._

'_I'm only defending your poor furniture. You always take it out on them when you are nervous. It's just Kyla. You know, the one you are related to?' Olivia asked rhetorically._

'_Yeah, but it's my sister who has never seen my house here and who has never met you.' Ashley said, slightly annoyed._

'_Everybody loves me, there will be no problem.' Olivia said nonchalantly._

'_Again, full of yourself.' Ashley stated._

'_No, I just know what's true and what's not.' Olivia smiled._

'_Yeah, well she boards her plane soon and it only takes like two hours to get here. I have so much stuff to do.' Ashley began panicking, again._

'_What else could you possibly have to do? You've been cleaning like a mad woman for the past week. You grocery shopped, you deep cleaned the house, all the laundry is done, you took care of the lawns and gardens, you even got your car washed and detailed. Relax, please, you're making me antsy.'_

'_She's supposed to call me when she gets to the airport that way I know when they are boarding the plane, so my phone should be ringing anytime.' Ashley said as she moved to grab the rag that was sitting haphazardly on the couch._

'_So why don't you put that rag away and then sit your but on the couch. LOGO is having a Gimme Sugar Miami marathon.' Olivia sing-songed._

'_Well, you know how I like my Gimme Sugar.' Ashley smiled as she walked to the laundry room to put the rag in the hamper._

'_Yes I do, now get your cute butt in here so we can catch up on the episodes we missed!' Olivia yelled towards the laundry room._

'_Alright, I'm ready.' Ashley said as she plopped onto the couch._

_They had been watching TV for about ten minutes when Ashley's phone released the ridiculous tune that her sister had picked out._

'_Oh! It's Kyla, pause it!' Ashley said as she sprinted towards her phone. 'Hey Ky! Are you at the airport?' Ashley asked excitedly._

'_Ash, it's Glen.'_

'_Hey! So you guys made it to the airport okay?' Ashley asked._

'_Ash, there was an accident.' Glen said slowly, emotionally._

'_Accident? What do you mean? Is everything okay?' Ashley asked worried._

_Glens voice broke through with more emotion than Ashley had ever heard from the older boy, 'The car, it just came out of nowhere, I swear I tried to swerve. I swear I did Ashley! It just hit so hard, the sound of the metal. God, Kyla is, Ashley, you gotta get home.' Glen stuttered out._

'_What do you mean Kyla? Glen, where are you?' Ashley asked almost in tears._

'_I'm in the ICU, the car, it hit her side. It was so loud. It crushed the whole side of the car. I'm so sorry, I'm so so sorry.' Glen cried into the phone._

_The sound of Ashley's phone dropping to the wooden floor rung through the apartment._

_Olivia jumped up and ran towards the kitchen. The sight that laid before her broke her heart._

'_Ash, honey, what's wrong?' Olivia asked as she approached her. Ashley continued to stare into space, the sound of somebody talking in the background._

_Olivia bent down and picked up the phone, 'Hello?'_

'_Olivia?' Glen asked through his sobs._

'_Glen, what's wrong?'_

'_I tried to save her, I did. There was an accident, Kyla is in critical condition.' Glen cried._

'_We'll be there as soon as we can.' Olivia said as she hung up the phone and wrapped Ashley in a hug._

All it takes is thirty seconds to change everything.


End file.
